The world has been spared another day’s company with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il. Even among his evil peers, Mr. Kim’s atrocities stand out. His despotism starved millions of Koreans to death while he developed a reputation as an epicurean. He literally stole Korean and Japanese babies from their parents to train them as spy moles for the communist regime. He sold nuclear weapons technology to state terrorists that are sworn enemies of the US and Israel. He committed various capricious acts of war, including shelling defenseless civilian island homes. As with other evil men, like Mao, Pol Pot, and Ho Chi Minh, people who live free from tyranny are tempted to assume the evil men do is because of bad luck in allowing an evil leader to take control. The ugly reality is that anybody can become a Kim, given the opportunity, and assuming the US is immune is dangerous.
The story of North Korea is another confirmation of Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom, in which he argued that whenever a people cease defending their basic natural rights, a dictator will step in and impose tyranny. Capitalism is an expression of individual rights, and prosperity is the byproduct of capitalism. The purpose of individual rights is to allow people to live as they wish, and prosperity is only a happy byproduct, however this night photo of North Korea is telling:
Where collectivism is permitted, all economic progress is halted. North Korea suffers under a standard of living the rest of the world exceeded several generations ago. Consider North Korea, East Germany, Cuba, and Eastern Europe. Wherever collectivism exists, people suffer. The only path to prosperity is when individuals jealously defend their natural rights.
The US is anything but immune from collectivism and tyranny. The US has forcefully dislocated Georgian property owners based their race (the Trail of Tears). The US has interred Citizens in both WWI and WWII because they shared an ancestry with the enemy. Even the greatest, most free, strongest force for world good has made terrible mistakes. The US has plenty of would-be despots like Mr. Kim waiting for their chance.
When the government dictates to Americans the quantity and variety of health services they must consume, or it abolishes habeas corpus on US soil, the US opens the door a little more to North Korea. Every time individuals cede even a small personal liberty or responsibility to the collective, the chance of an evil tyranny increases. The only defense is to keep government so small that, even when mismanaged, it is powerless to truly ruin anybody’s life.
You’re pointing out extremes. What about Canada, Switzerland, Germany (not just East Germany), Japan, etc….All collectivist states. Certainly pointing out these few examples — where the USA has band other countries in having trade agreements with communists states — it won’t look attractive. But your argument crashes in when you make broad arguments with “collectivism”. One can argue a market system run on unrestrained greed leaves the poor and middle class in a state of desperation. A very true statistic, but we’ll just leave it as that for now.
Carlos Correa: Thanks very much for your thoughtful comment. I think you may be operating under the ‘it can’t happen here’ fallacy. I will leave your Canada alone, but let me mention that Switzerland is generally considered to be more free than the US and Canada, so that tends to support my point.
Sorry, continuing. . . Germany, under collectivism in the 1920′s became one of the most repressive and violent dictatorships in human history – that and Russia are the object lessons of Road To Serfdom. As to the poor and middle class – in every instance, the absence of individual rights and resulting capitalism perpetuates poverty. Poverty is the norm everywhere except for the rare period of capitalism we now enjoy. The ‘poor’ of the US live better lives than most everybody in N. Korea or Cuba. The correlation between individualism and prosperity is undeniable.
It certainly comes down to what one defines as wealth. So certainly if you compare the USA to, say, North Korea, we’ll look more attractive (and by the way, I’m a tri-citizen: USA, Canada, and Britain). But economists will throw out stats that lots of poor citizens own cell phones, microwaves, televisions, etc…but is that true wealth? To me what a truly wealthy nation is, is one that has options to liberate the individual — through schools, workers rights, etc. Of course we’re in a more comfortable situation compared to a lot of these communist states, but we’re not better (the USA) compared to a quasi-collectivists state that offers a chance for the individual to liberate themselves. Your argument is the same as what the South (USA) used to defend slavery: they said they were the more humane ideology. The slave owners stated that conditions for the slaves greatly improved — their living quarters were very comfortable, they could come and go as they pleased, they had furnishings, and a lot of them were treated the same as family. Certain aspects of capitalism could be beneficial, but the capitalism Libertarians are calling for, which cut out options for the poor and middle class to become competitive in the market, is very dangerous. True freedom in the Libertarian State will only be shared by the upper-classes. The rest of the population will only have freedom in what they can purchase and, because the free market runs on unrestrained greed, the upper class will always find ways to maximize profits, which has been historically shown to always come out of the middle and lower classes pockets.
But you are correct: the only way the individual will be free is for that individual to be in charge of their lives. Libertarians like to throw out examples of self-made-men — like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, etc — and treat them like Gods. The truth of the matter is, and they don’t mention this, those people where part of a team — they did not accomplish their success by themselves, they relied on people and (probably) government grants. The truth of the matter is that there are more examples of the American Dream fallen short in our prison systems. Libertarianism has its roots in Anarchism, which is all it is: Anarchism for the rich — ultimate freedom. It is no mistake that these philosophy’s are coming into light right now, Ayn Rand and other philosophers spent hours in think tanks trying to think of ways to maximize their freedom and to control the population. So if we are truly concerned with the notion of Freedom and true individualism, I’d invite you to look at anarcho-synicalism as a political thought. It is much the same as libertarianism, with the exception of all citizens participate in all levels of society. That, to me, is more attractive than a system that totally betrays Adam Smith, the one they quote to justify themselves. If you’ve read Adam Smith — truly read Smith — then you’ll know he said that a market system run on unrestrained greed will make humans as stupid as humans could possibly be. I’m just saying, if you want a revolution: lets have a revolution. But their is a better way than a Libertarian State and, at the same time, doesn’t have to be a Communist State.
One more thing I need to add: Switzerland is one of the most prosperous countries in terms of “individual” purchasing power — The median income after social security, taxes and mandatory health insurance was 75,312 CHF, or USD 95,824. One of the main reasons why this is is through collectivism: The Swiss economy is characterised by a skilled and generally ‘peaceful’ workforce. One quarter of the country’s full-time workers are unionised. Labour and management relations are amicable, characterised by a willingness to settle disputes instead of resorting to labour action. About 600 collective bargaining agreements exist today in Switzerland and are regularly renewed without major problems.
And that’s the problem with Libertarians: you avoid facts and chose to look at the world according to your own ideology. Any notion of compassion gets construed as communism or socialism. So please understand that there is a HUGE gap between being a Collectivist State and a Communist State. A perfect example of the mind set between a Collectivist State and a Capitalist State is comparing the recent Japanese earthquake to Katrina: in Katrina, people were out for themselves, taking what they could and knocking down anyone in their way. While in Japan they were calm and collected. That is the difference between a selfish individual state and a country that works together for the benefit of all the citizens and still being “a free society”.
Your argument is equivalent to comparing a turd (North Korea) to a McDonald’s Hamburger (USA): anyone in their right mind would choose the McDonald’s Hamburger over the turd. But once you find out there are such things as 5 star restaurants and other food options with nutritional value, one must re-explore all their options.