The forest was shrinking but the trees kept voting for the axe for the axe was clever and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood he was one of them. -Turkish proverb
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So why do Communist regimes turn out to be so evil? My hypothesis is that the Manichean nature of the ideology selects for leaders who are psychopaths and for followers who are willing to rationalize the cruelty of the leaders.
Because you are fighting for utopia against enemies who are trying to maintain the illegitimate status quo, the ends justify violent, repressive means. But I speculate that it is the violent means that appeal to the men who rise to the top of the Communist pyramid. The psychopaths who attain leadership positions claim to be aiming for the ends, but in fact what appeals to them is the moral license to engage in cruelty. What their followers think of as temporary and unfortunate is what the leaders find intoxicating.--Kling
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Wealth of Nations
The Wealth of Nations is primarily a book about the division of labor. That’s Smith’s answer to the title question: Nations become wealthy because of specialization and trade. As the division of labor progresses, “the obvious and simple system of natural liberty establishes itself of its own accord. Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man, or order of men.” Smith had a presumption of liberty in policy.
Welfare-state policies are, in general, liberty-reducing in Smith’s framework. Insofar as they rely on redistributive taxation, they involve state coercion. You cannot pursue your own interests in your own way when saving for retirement, for example; Social Security is compulsory. Welfare programs almost always involve the government deciding what beneficiaries’ interests are. Food stamps can only be used on certain products. The scope of government health insurance coverage is determined by the bureaucracy that administers it.
...many on the Left are still guided by the FDR view that welfare programs increase liberty by contributing to “freedom from want.” Smith would reject that argument, and conservatives should, too. To the extent welfare programs exist, they should be considered a necessary evil, not an enhancement of personal freedom.--Pino
The Wealth of Nations is primarily a book about the division of labor. That’s Smith’s answer to the title question: Nations become wealthy because of specialization and trade. As the division of labor progresses, “the obvious and simple system of natural liberty establishes itself of its own accord. Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man, or order of men.” Smith had a presumption of liberty in policy.
Welfare-state policies are, in general, liberty-reducing in Smith’s framework. Insofar as they rely on redistributive taxation, they involve state coercion. You cannot pursue your own interests in your own way when saving for retirement, for example; Social Security is compulsory. Welfare programs almost always involve the government deciding what beneficiaries’ interests are. Food stamps can only be used on certain products. The scope of government health insurance coverage is determined by the bureaucracy that administers it.
...many on the Left are still guided by the FDR view that welfare programs increase liberty by contributing to “freedom from want.” Smith would reject that argument, and conservatives should, too. To the extent welfare programs exist, they should be considered a necessary evil, not an enhancement of personal freedom.--Pino
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