I do believe in free market, or laissez-faire,
capitalism. My belief is not in the nature of a religious faith, but as a
reasoned position drawn from the observable facts of human beings’ nature and
life requirements.
The basic attribute that separates man from
other animals is reason. Reason is man’s basic means of survival. Reason is an
attribute of the individual. I believe, therefore, that every individual must
be free to live and associate with others based on his own judgement without coercive
interference from others--including others in their capacity as government
officials. Put another way, I believe that every individual possesses the
inalienable individual rights to life, to liberty rights, including rights to
property earned by work and free trade, and to the personal pursuit of one’s
own values, goals, and happiness. Rights are principles that sanction the
individual’s freedom of action, as well as the limits of those actions, in a
social context; the limit being the same rights of others.
The government—acting as the people’s agent,
rather than ruler—ensures peaceful coexistence through laws designed for the
sole purpose of securing everyone’s individual rights equally and at all times.
To “secure these rights” means to protect against aggressive, or initiatory,
force; i.e., to establish freedom from force by law. Since man’s
survival and flourishing requires thoughtful long-range action on the
individual level, his number one social requirement is to be free from the only
action others can use to stop him--physical force. A government that is limited
to banishing aggressive physical force from social relationships is the only
type of government under which capitalism can exist.
As a matter of principle and political
philosophy, capitalism is the only social system to secure voluntary consent to
mutual advantage based on equality of individual rights as the only basis for
dealing with others. This, I believe, makes free market capitalism the only
moral social system. Therefore, based on my morals and the laws of nature, I
believe in free market, or laissez-faire, capitalism.
Related Reading:
* [Quora is a social media website founded by
two former Facebook employees. According to Wikipedia:
Quora is a
question-and-answer website where questions are
created, answered, edited and organized by its community of users. The company
was founded in June 2009, and the website was made available to the public on
June 21, 2010.[3]Quora aggregates questions and answers to topics. Users can
collaborate by editing questions and suggesting edits to other users' answers.[4]
[You can also reply to other users’
answers.]
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