Freedom and Equality

For the past few years I have been concerned about the complaints of the main street media of the lack of "Equality" in the United States.  Milton Friedman in his book, Free To Choose" pointed out that individual freedom and liberty are on the opposite end of a spectrum from  equality.  (See pg 128 to 149 in the 1990 edition.)  Recently I was cleaning and sorting and found a copy of a letter I sent to Friedman about his premise.   

  

Don't you love the familiarity of the times, "Dear Milton" my ass.  

No typing in those days, I actually looked and I taught myself to type shortly after this was written.

It appears I use a "yellow dog" tablet.  The joys of being young!!!

Last summer I read “The Real History of the End of the World” by Sharan Newman.  Since Daniel and Revelations, apocalyptic predictions have proliferated.  What I find fascinating are the two competing apocalyptic visions presently in vogue. These, of course, are Climate Change and government fiscal budget austerity.  In the past two weeks Kelly has hit them both.  I find most startlingly is the culture war between conservatives and liberals in the defense of their own apocalyptic vision. (The United States is the only country peopled early on by heavily apocalyptic religious groups, and perhaps this permeates our culture more than we realize).  We have the climate Hoaxers and their Liberal allies screaming that if we don’t have energy austerity the seas will rise. polar bears and coral will die, and our children will all suffer a fate worse than death.  At the same time the “fresh water economists” and their conservative collaborators are warning us of the Bond vigilantes and unrestrained debt stealing our children’s future in a tsunami of inflation, bankruptcy and poverty.  These apocalyptic predictions are countered by the Climate Deniers and their friends the conservatives and the Liberal “salt water” economists and Paul Krugman.  The Deniers claim that even thought CO2 has been growing unchecked for the last ten years we have in fact been COOLING! I would point out that James Hansen has just published a paper claiming that if not for CO2 in the atmosphere, due to the solar cycle we are in, both the Thames River and the canals of Holland would be frozen this winter. (As if this would have been a good thing.)  At the same time, Paul Krugman points out that even thought the FED is holding at least $31 TRILLION in debt ($16 trillion private and $15 trillion Public, double of our GDP) to hold interest rates down, the bond vigilantes have yet to show up.  I would note they might be busy in Greece, Spain, and Italy and just not gotten to us yet. You admit to know nothing of science, the type of person we call “superstitious savages”, so how do you know which side to support?  Or do you just accept the incredible example of doublethink, where Paul Krugman tells us that the more educated the Republican the more ignorant they are and just take the opposite side.   I can’t resist, Paul Krugman points out the Real Expenditures have not increased due to the $1.2 Trillion stimulus and TARP spending vs. during the Reagan Recovery.  The reason is as Kelly pointed out; this administration’s goals are to support their core constituencies, at the head of the line are crony capitalists who receive subsidies and bailouts. Next are faculty and staff at colleges and non-profits that depend on government funding. Then come the unions This administration works solely for their own personal gain and to retain their power and prestige.

Liberals are irresponsible, lazy, and cowards.

I am not being uncivil, this is not some type of ad hominem

attack like Liberals love to use. Edward Deming (I believe the second greatest mind of the twentieth century) is credited with pointing out that "It is not the product, it is the process". This concept changed "Made in Japan" from an acronym for junk to the standard by which quality is judged in the industrial world. In the global sense, it can be paraphrased as "It is not the people, it is the government, the rules by which we live". In February 2005, Richard Parker, a liberal economist, wrote an article in the Boston Globe titled, The Pragmatist and the Utopian, in which he blamed Milton Friedman and the free market advocates for every economic misfortune since the 70’s. Parker’s criticism is that in no way has the country achieved more equality, requires less effort, or is safer than it was 25 years ago. I don’t know if I agree, but note, each of these goals is reflected by a characteristic human value, egalitarianism is of course is about irresponsibility (equality of outcome), lazy people think life should be easy, and safety is important to the cowards. Irresponsible, lazy and cowardice are the primary human values of the Liberal. If you build a system that aggrandizes the lazy, the irresponsible, and the cowards, are you in any way surprised you end up with Zimbabwe or worse? Now don’t confuse me with a Conservative (sometimes confused with Republicans). Conservatives believe that they can control man’s appetites through legislation and prison. Like the Muslims, they believe it is the person, not the process, and blame all the world’s problems on the moral and spiritual bankruptcy of the immigrants, drug addicts, homosexuals, and dark skinned minorities that pollute the system. They believe that if only the people were moral, then this system based upon irresponsibility, laziness, and cowardliness can be made to work. Sorry, it’s not to be; as Adam Smith pointed out, "The invisible hand that makes free market systems self correcting is the same hand that destroys all others." A desire for safe, easy, and egalitarian always leads to moral, spiritual, and economic bankruptcy.