No Coercion

Raise your hand if you’re sick of these politicians and their juvenile tirades against “business.” I know it’s the campaign season and all, but come on! And while I especially cringe when I hear the parasitic rants that the Democrats are so fond of, the formerly pro-economic-freedom Republicans are (with the exception of Ron Paul and sometimes Giuliani) getting in on the action, too. Of course, all these officials are constantly egged on and encouraged in this nonsense by a disturbingly large fraction of the American people, who whine incessantly about all the terrible profits being made by the evil corporations and how there should be minimum and maximum wages, and trade restrictions, and consumer “safety” rules, and progressive taxation, and all manner of other measures that should be taken by the “noble” politicians in an effort to curb the “excesses” of businesses and stand up for the “common good.”

I think what the American people need is a healthy reminder of the actual nature of both business and politics. Following are a couple of appropriate quotes that can help put things in perspective.

From Ayn Rand’s Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal:

What is economic power? It is the power to produce and to trade what one has produced. In a free economy, where no man or group of men can use physical coercion against anyone, economic power can be achieved only by voluntary means: by the voluntary choice and agreement of all those who participate in the process of production and trade. In a free market, all prices, wages, and profits are determined—not by the arbitrary whim of the rich or of the poor, not by anyone’s “greed” or by anyone’s need—but by the law of supply and demand. The mechanism of a free market reflects and sums up all the economic choices and decisions made by all the participants. Men trade their goods or services by mutual consent to mutual advantage, according to their own independent, uncoerced judgment. A man can grow rich only if he is able to offer better values—better products or services, at a lower price—than others are able to offer.

Wealth, in a free market, is achieved by a free, general, “democratic” vote—by the sales and the purchases of every individual who takes part in the economic life of the country. Whenever you buy one product rather than another, you are voting for the success of some manufacturer. And, in this type of voting, every man votes only on those matters which he is qualified to judge: on his own preferences, interests, and needs. No one has the power to decide for others or to substitute his judgment for theirs; no one has the power to appoint himself “the voice of the public” and to leave the public voiceless and disfranchised.

Now let me define the difference between economic power and political power: economic power is exercised by means of a positive, by offering men a reward, an incentive, a payment, a value; political power is exercised by means of a negative, by the threat of punishment, injury, imprisonment, destruction. The businessman’s tool is values; the bureaucrat’s tool is fear.

And here’s a great letter that Don Boudreaux at Cafe Hayek sent to USA Today back during the Christmas season:

Even more predictable than the post-Thanksgiving appearance of shopping-mall Santas is the inability of pundits at this time of year to say or to write “commercialism” without prefixing to it the word “crass” - as we encounter in your pages today in Tom Krattenmaker’s “The real meaning of Christmas.”

I challenge this notion.  Commerce is peaceful. It involves sellers working hard and taking risks to bring to market goods and services that consumers want to buy.  No one forces anyone to do anything; all is voluntary.

What truly is crass is politics - that sorry spectacle of power-seeking ego-maniacs who, when not pronouncing platitudes, are promising to help group A by picking the pockets of group B.  While commerce is honest, politics is duplicitous.  While commerce is peaceful, politics inevitably pits citizen against citizen.  Far more enlightened and ethical behavior is on display during any one day in a shopping mall than the most intrepid observer will find in a century on Pennsylvania Avenue.

And yes, I do realize there are businesses out there doing some really sketchy things that violate the voluntary and value-based nature of commerce. But every single one of those instances is a result of the government getting involved and lending some of its power to those offending businesses. Isn’t it ironic that the people complaining about abuses by businesses are always calling for giving the government more power over business, thus resulting in ever-increasing instances of businesses choosing what seems the most rational course of action and using that government power to their advantage?

What say you, fair readers?

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