Collectivism doesn't work because it's based on a faulty economic premise. There is no such thing as a person's "fair share" of wealth. The gross national product is not a pizza that must be carefully divided because if I get too many slices, you have to eat the box. The economy is expandable and, in any practical sense, limitless.
– P.J. O'Rourke
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Quote of the Day
The truth is that economic competition is the very opposite of competition in the animal kingdom. It is not a competition in the grabbing off of scarce nature-given supplies, as it is in the animal kingdom. Rather, it is a competition in the positive creation of new and additional wealth.
- George Reisman
- George Reisman
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Guest Authors
As I began the process of creating this blog, I didn't think I'd be fired up or motivated enough to come up with enough interesting posts on my own. So I asked my husband and 2 of our libertarian friends to contribute whenever possible. So finally we have our first guest writer post. See below. :-)
Liberty and the Light of Christ
One of the core principles of Libertarianism, is the idea that having freedom of choice is more important than avoiding the negative consequences that come when anyone makes a bad choice. In other words, freedom of choice is one of the prime directives of Libertarianism.
The restored gospel teaches us that the same is true for our Heavenly Father's Plan of Salvation. Having the agency to choose was so vital to God's plan that He was willing to lose a third of all His children in the pre-mortal war in heaven rather than take away the agency of man. Even now, in mortality, Heavenly Father almost never intervenes in a dramatic or spectacular way in the lives of His children. And He never takes our freedom to choose from us. He may take anything else away from us, including our very lives, but He will not take our free agency away. This is the case even when it means that the outcome is something He is not pleased with. He allows innocent lives to be taken, souls to be destroyed, and families torn apart by all manner of horrible, unjust, and evil acts every moment of every hour rather than intervene and strip even one person of their freedom to choose. Heavenly Father doesn't just give us the freedom to choose good. If He did it wouldn't really be freedom, now would it? In order for us to truly be free we must also have the freedom to choose wickedness. Now this doesn't mean that there aren't consequences for these acts of evil. There are. There are also consequences for acts of righteousness. We reap what we sow. Just as Heavenly Father doesn't intervene to stop us from making certain choices, He won't intervene to keep us from experiencing the consequences of those choices either.
Rather than interfere with the agency of man, God provides each person with a conscience (see Moroni 7:16), He appoints prophets and apostles to teach us His word and He hopes that we will each freely choose to listen and obey, reaping the blessings that naturally flow from doing so. It is "only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; by kindness, and pure knowledge, reproving betimes with sharpness, and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love" (D&C 121:41-43) that He makes His case, not force or the restriction of our freedom.
We are each born with an innate sense of what is just and good, unjust and evil. And we are also born with an innate desire to be free. The gospel calls this the light of Christ and the world almost universally recognizes this as our conscience. Prophets have taught us that we should use this gift to help us judge what is of God and what comes from Satan (see Moroni 7:12-19). Remember that Satan is he who desired most that the agency of man be taken away and he has not ceased striving for that to this very day (Moses 4:3-4).
If you were to witness a person voluntarily and willingly giving of his own time and money to provide a homeless man with a meal, the Light of Christ within tells us that what he did was good and right. However, were a third person to point a gun at him and say, "Feed that homeless man or I shoot," the light of Christ cries out that this is unjust and wrong. But why is that? The homeless man gets fed just the same in both situations; the end result is the same. The difference, of course, is that in the first example the free exercise of agency was in play and in the second example coercion and the lack of choice distorted the good into evil.
Now suppose that we were to witness instead that same person voluntarily and willingly robbing a homeless man of what little he does have; our conscience rightfully tells us that what he did is unjust and wrong. On the other hand, insert a third person pointing a gun at him and threatening to use it if he does not rob the homeless man and our conscience holds the threatened man blameless for the evil even though it was he who physically took from the homeless. Again, the end result is the same: in both cases the homeless man is robbed. Why then the difference in our feeling towards the man who did it? Once more, it comes down to the difference between freedom of choice and compulsion.
Libertarianism seeks to apply this principle of freedom consistently and uniformly to every level of society. This means that it should also be applied toward the government as well. To understand what the application of this principle towards the state means, we need to understand how the state works. Take any law, regulation, procedure, process, or policy of the government and ask yourself, "How is it enforced?" In other words, if I choose not to comply, for any reason or no reason at all, what will happen?
Inevitably, the state will threaten and use force to ensure compliance. Some say that paying taxes is "voluntary." If you honestly believe that, go ahead and stop paying them and see how much of a "choice" you have in the matter. First you will be given fines and other financial penalties. If you continue to refuse to pay your taxes and/or the fines and penalties, eventually a warrant for your arrest will be issued. If you resist arrest, force will be threatened, if you continue not to surrender and to physically resist despite the threat of force, actual force will be used. Agents of the government will physically assault you in order to subdue you and you may even be shot at and possibly lose your life. This is the inevitable result of "choosing" not to comply with the government in every case, small or large, be it paying taxes, wearing your seat belt, keeping your lawn's grass from growing over 12 inches tall, and everything else. The only way to avoid the use of violent force by the government is to comply. In essence, every law passed, every regulation issued, every policy decided, points a gun at us and says "Do this or we shoot."
Remember the examples of feeding or robbing the homeless man? When someone points a gun at you, you are no longer free. The choice is no longer yours. This is what government is constantly doing. For example, when laws are passed to provide welfare checks for the poor, no one denies that helping the poor is good. But the libertarian sees that it's not just the end result that matters, it is the means by which that end is reached that matters most. Our very consciences tell us when an individual points a gun to force charity it is unjust and wrong. It is the libertarian that sees the inconsistency and illogic in granting to the government some grand exception to this rule.
Because everything that government does, it does backed up by the threat and use of force, it is our responsibility to limit government and increase freedom. This may mean that some will make poor choices and the natural and eternal consequences of those choices will befall them, but it also means that we will be more free to make good choices as well. For if I freely choose to give of my means to those in need, I reap the blessings of that action. But if I give to the needy because I have no real choice in the matter, then the blessings are not mine to claim. Freedom and agency is the key. Let us do all we can to increase the personal and economic freedom of all of our Heavenly Father's children and in doing so further carry out our Heavenly Father's great plan of happiness.
-Austin Armstrong
The restored gospel teaches us that the same is true for our Heavenly Father's Plan of Salvation. Having the agency to choose was so vital to God's plan that He was willing to lose a third of all His children in the pre-mortal war in heaven rather than take away the agency of man. Even now, in mortality, Heavenly Father almost never intervenes in a dramatic or spectacular way in the lives of His children. And He never takes our freedom to choose from us. He may take anything else away from us, including our very lives, but He will not take our free agency away. This is the case even when it means that the outcome is something He is not pleased with. He allows innocent lives to be taken, souls to be destroyed, and families torn apart by all manner of horrible, unjust, and evil acts every moment of every hour rather than intervene and strip even one person of their freedom to choose. Heavenly Father doesn't just give us the freedom to choose good. If He did it wouldn't really be freedom, now would it? In order for us to truly be free we must also have the freedom to choose wickedness. Now this doesn't mean that there aren't consequences for these acts of evil. There are. There are also consequences for acts of righteousness. We reap what we sow. Just as Heavenly Father doesn't intervene to stop us from making certain choices, He won't intervene to keep us from experiencing the consequences of those choices either.
Rather than interfere with the agency of man, God provides each person with a conscience (see Moroni 7:16), He appoints prophets and apostles to teach us His word and He hopes that we will each freely choose to listen and obey, reaping the blessings that naturally flow from doing so. It is "only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; by kindness, and pure knowledge, reproving betimes with sharpness, and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love" (D&C 121:41-43) that He makes His case, not force or the restriction of our freedom.
We are each born with an innate sense of what is just and good, unjust and evil. And we are also born with an innate desire to be free. The gospel calls this the light of Christ and the world almost universally recognizes this as our conscience. Prophets have taught us that we should use this gift to help us judge what is of God and what comes from Satan (see Moroni 7:12-19). Remember that Satan is he who desired most that the agency of man be taken away and he has not ceased striving for that to this very day (Moses 4:3-4).
If you were to witness a person voluntarily and willingly giving of his own time and money to provide a homeless man with a meal, the Light of Christ within tells us that what he did was good and right. However, were a third person to point a gun at him and say, "Feed that homeless man or I shoot," the light of Christ cries out that this is unjust and wrong. But why is that? The homeless man gets fed just the same in both situations; the end result is the same. The difference, of course, is that in the first example the free exercise of agency was in play and in the second example coercion and the lack of choice distorted the good into evil.
Now suppose that we were to witness instead that same person voluntarily and willingly robbing a homeless man of what little he does have; our conscience rightfully tells us that what he did is unjust and wrong. On the other hand, insert a third person pointing a gun at him and threatening to use it if he does not rob the homeless man and our conscience holds the threatened man blameless for the evil even though it was he who physically took from the homeless. Again, the end result is the same: in both cases the homeless man is robbed. Why then the difference in our feeling towards the man who did it? Once more, it comes down to the difference between freedom of choice and compulsion.
Libertarianism seeks to apply this principle of freedom consistently and uniformly to every level of society. This means that it should also be applied toward the government as well. To understand what the application of this principle towards the state means, we need to understand how the state works. Take any law, regulation, procedure, process, or policy of the government and ask yourself, "How is it enforced?" In other words, if I choose not to comply, for any reason or no reason at all, what will happen?
Inevitably, the state will threaten and use force to ensure compliance. Some say that paying taxes is "voluntary." If you honestly believe that, go ahead and stop paying them and see how much of a "choice" you have in the matter. First you will be given fines and other financial penalties. If you continue to refuse to pay your taxes and/or the fines and penalties, eventually a warrant for your arrest will be issued. If you resist arrest, force will be threatened, if you continue not to surrender and to physically resist despite the threat of force, actual force will be used. Agents of the government will physically assault you in order to subdue you and you may even be shot at and possibly lose your life. This is the inevitable result of "choosing" not to comply with the government in every case, small or large, be it paying taxes, wearing your seat belt, keeping your lawn's grass from growing over 12 inches tall, and everything else. The only way to avoid the use of violent force by the government is to comply. In essence, every law passed, every regulation issued, every policy decided, points a gun at us and says "Do this or we shoot."
Remember the examples of feeding or robbing the homeless man? When someone points a gun at you, you are no longer free. The choice is no longer yours. This is what government is constantly doing. For example, when laws are passed to provide welfare checks for the poor, no one denies that helping the poor is good. But the libertarian sees that it's not just the end result that matters, it is the means by which that end is reached that matters most. Our very consciences tell us when an individual points a gun to force charity it is unjust and wrong. It is the libertarian that sees the inconsistency and illogic in granting to the government some grand exception to this rule.
Because everything that government does, it does backed up by the threat and use of force, it is our responsibility to limit government and increase freedom. This may mean that some will make poor choices and the natural and eternal consequences of those choices will befall them, but it also means that we will be more free to make good choices as well. For if I freely choose to give of my means to those in need, I reap the blessings of that action. But if I give to the needy because I have no real choice in the matter, then the blessings are not mine to claim. Freedom and agency is the key. Let us do all we can to increase the personal and economic freedom of all of our Heavenly Father's children and in doing so further carry out our Heavenly Father's great plan of happiness.
-Austin Armstrong
Friday, September 24, 2010
Quote of the Day
Too many people think that economics is this subject that should wait until the university level. But it can't wait that long.
- Robert Duvall
- Robert Duvall
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
The Foundation for Economic Education
"FEE’s vision—the ideal we are striving to achieve—is a world where people flourish in a free and civil society. In such a world the individual’s creative, productive energies are unleashed; private property and the sanctity of contract are upheld; the use of force is confined to protecting the peace; competitive markets allocate scarce resources; and honesty is universally regarded as the best policy in both public and private affairs."
"Politics is not our bailiwick. Indeed, we seek to de-politicize life. We want to enlighten public discussion by emphasizing that there is (and ought to be) much more to life in a free and civil society than the political apparatus. We do not advise politicians how to employ the use of force, but rather we make the case against the initiation of force, period."
From What We Believe
By Lawrence Reed (President of the FEE)
(Great article)
P.S. Definition for bailiwick (cuz I for one definitely had to look that up...)
"Politics is not our bailiwick. Indeed, we seek to de-politicize life. We want to enlighten public discussion by emphasizing that there is (and ought to be) much more to life in a free and civil society than the political apparatus. We do not advise politicians how to employ the use of force, but rather we make the case against the initiation of force, period."
From What We Believe
By Lawrence Reed (President of the FEE)
(Great article)
P.S. Definition for bailiwick (cuz I for one definitely had to look that up...)
Friday, September 17, 2010
Quote of the Day
Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement. Economic wounds must be healed by the action of the cells of the economic body - the producers and consumers themselves.
- Herbert Hoover
- Herbert Hoover
Monday, September 13, 2010
Quote of the Day
There is only one boss--the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.
- Sam Walton
- Sam Walton
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Quote of the Day
It is impossible to understand the history of economic thought if one does not pay attention to the fact that economics as such is a challenge to the conceit of those in power.
- Ludwig von Mises.
- Ludwig von Mises.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Quote of the Day
Economics is not about goods and services; it is about human choice and action.
- Ludwig von Mises
- Ludwig von Mises
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Quote of the Day
Fundamentally, there are only two ways of coordinating the economic activities of millions. One is central direction involving the use of coercion – the technique of the army and of the modern totalitarian state. The other is voluntary cooperation of individuals – the technique of the marketplace.
– Milton Friedman
– Milton Friedman
Friday, September 3, 2010
Quote of the Day
Most economic fallacies derive...from the tendency to assume that there is a fixed pie, that one party can gain only at the expense of another.
– Milton Friedman
– Milton Friedman
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Money 101
I don't know how many people would find an Economics lecture interesting enough to sit at home and watch it online but apparently I am one of those people. I just started watching The Origin, Nature and History of Money, given by Lawrence W. Reed of the FEE. Since I'm still relatively new to the free market scene, I'm vastly interested in going over the basics. And so far that's what this guy is doing. And, on a side-note, it's making me feel smarter. Which I like, since lately I've been feeling like the process of going from having one kid to having two (pregnancy, sleep-deprivation, etc.) has shrunk my brain to the size of a Fruit Loop. Perhaps I exaggerate, but it really is amazing how invigorating it can be to learn something new.
"[Money] is only useful for what it gets you in exchange, and it's supply must remain scarce in order to preform it's function."
- Lawrence W. Reed
"[Money] is only useful for what it gets you in exchange, and it's supply must remain scarce in order to preform it's function."
- Lawrence W. Reed
Govt. = Bad Investment
This site calculates how much any taxpayer will contribute to various federal programs per month, per year, and in his or her lifetime. The calculator also estimates what that tax money could have generated in private investment.
(Found on Anything Peaceful the official blog of the Freeman http://www.thefreemanonline.org)
Quote of the Day
A traffic jam is a collision between free enterprise and socialism. Free enterprise produces automobiles faster than socialism can build roads and road capacity.
– Andrew Galambos
– Andrew Galambos
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Quote of the Day
Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
– Ronald Reagan
– Ronald Reagan
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