Did Robert Fulton, when he developed the steamboat, set about improving the lot of mankind, or did he do it for his own gain, or self interest, or as some would call it selfishness? I will postulate that he did NOT do it for altruistic motives. When Henry Ford developed the assembly line, did he do it to increase man’s productivity, and thus his wealth, or did he do it for profit motives? Again, I’ll argue that he did it to increase HIS wealth, and thus the wealth of all of us. Much the same can be said of any of the men or women who advanced our knowledge base, or instituted improved techniques, or invented innumerable devices. They allowed the modern man to be more productive and thus to enjoy more time for study, recreation, and enjoyment.
Many years ago, following the collapse of the Berlin wall, I was on a business trip to England, when I struck up a conversation with a German businessman at a pub. I asked him how the German reunification was going. He said that it was not all that smooth because the East Germans only knew how to use the ancient (by about 40 years) machining tools such as lathes while the Westerners were accustomed to using more advanced computer controlled machine tools. As a consequence the West German workers were more productive than the East German workers. They were worth more to the company.
So goes the lot of socialism everywhere it has been tried – men stagnate. Whereas under capitalism, men work, produce, innovate, and invent. Adam Smith had a term for this - the “invisible hand.” We must resist the temptation to allow ourselves to become dependent upon government for surely that is where we are headed. And government must reject the altruistic ideas of tending to the needs of the individual, or AIG, or General Motors, or Chrysler.
Thus the folks who used to call themselves liberal, wanting more government interference in our lives, some of whom now call themselves "progressive" are actually non-progressive. Kind of Orwellian isn't it?
No comments:
Post a Comment