Warren Meyer (who writes Coyote Blog) has a new column at Forbes about the strange affliction that affects progressives (liberals): they’re too conservative to accept capitalism. At least, that’s the way Meyer explains it.
This story of progressives trying to stop history has continued to repeat itself through the generations. In the
seventies and eighties, progressives tried to maintain the traditional dominance of heavy industry like steel and automotive, and to prevent the shift of these industries overseas in favor of more service-oriented industries. Just like the passing of agriculture to industry a century ago inflamed progressives, so too does the current passing of heavy industry to services. Who could have predicted a half century ago that it would be the the Left that would use taxpayer money to prop up the management of General Motors in the face of a changing economic tide?
In fact, here is a sure-fire test for a progressive. If given a choice between two worlds:
- A capitalist society where the overall levels of wealth and technology continue to increase, though in a pattern that is dynamic, chaotic, generally unpredictable, and whose rewards are unevenly distributed, or…
- A “progressive” society where everyone is poorer, but income is generally more evenly distributed and where jobs and pay and industries change only very slowly, and people have good assurances that they will continue to have what they have today, with little downside but also with very little upside.
Progressives will choose #2. Even if it means everyone is poorer. Even if it cuts off any future improvements we might gain in technology or new business models or wealth or lifespan. They want to take what we have today, divide it up more equally, and then continue to eternity with just that. Progressives want #2 today, and they wanted it just as much in 1900 (just think what it would mean if they had been successful — as just one example, if you are over 44, you would have a 50/50 chance of being dead now).
His description of how progressives are willing to trust individuals when it comes to social decisions, but not ones regarding commerce, is particularly interesting. Read the whole thing at Forbes
