Markets Transcend the Archaic Hatreds Sustained by the State 8/22/16, by Ryan
Miller
We live in a
world united. To the extent that markets are allowed to operate freely we have
seen increasing convergence within societies and the world on everything, from
food to entertainment, from technology to language. Given freer markets, we
would likely see the even quicker marginalization of all the negative “isms”
(racism, sexism, nationalism, etc.) as well as things like homophobia and
religious intolerance.
We have already
seen these things largely relegated to a relatively insignificant role and
those who are racist or sexist are not able to publicly act on their beliefs
for fear of ostracism. This tremendously positive development of human society
has occurred because of (relatively) free markets. Because of trading, buying
and selling. Because markets incentivize us to not see a black person or a gay
person, but a customer or potential client.
Markets Punish Bigotry
For those
hold-outs who would still operate their business on a bigoted basis, there is
an increasingly global market full of competitors who are happy to sell to
those people the bigots won’t. Additionally as we’ve seen, social media quickly
makes
Markets
incentivize us to treat all people with a basic level of respect and decency,
political systems and states do the exact opposite. known any “infraction” or action which
the majority of people hold to be wrong and the market takes its toll through
boycotts and bad PR. The incentives this creates encourage people to change
their beliefs, or at least keep them to themselves and not act on them.
Whereas markets
bring us ever closer together and incentivize us to treat all people with a
basic level of respect and decency, political systems and states do the exact
opposite. For all the progress that markets have allowed us to gain in terms of
equality of natural rights, acceptance of others who are different, etc., the
state continuously comes in and highlights people’s differences, stirs up
largely imagined divisions—all to exploit for political gains. Things like
affirmative action, social security, and welfare all serve to hurt some only by
hurting others worse.
But that’s not
all.
The very
existence of political (specifically democratic) systems creates a situation
where people must fight their neighbors and coworkers and even friends for
political power. A situation of all versus all.
States Ruin Everything
Modern states
have grown to such a degree that they affect nearly every aspect of our lives.
This means that if you and people who share your values or opinions do not
control the levers of political power, the people with whom you don’t share
values, and with whom you don’t agree will. They could then use that power to
very tangibly affect your life and the welfare of yourself and your family.
This leads to a
society of mistrust, decreasing social cohesion, and sometimes even hate. You
stop seeing that black person as a market equal and potential buyer or seller
and see them as someone who is going to use the state to get more money from
you.
You see that
gay man not as a customer, but as someone who is going to vote to force you to
act against your religious beliefs. You see the rich guy not as a genius for
the immense value he likely created for you and society, but as the enemy using
the state to keep you down in order to walk all over you.
What’s even
worse, however, is that your opinions and beliefs mean nothing and you are not
even allowed to build your life around them as you would see fit. This is
because no matter how passionately you believe in something, if the majority
decides it to be inappropriate or as not in its best interests then you are
barred from exercising that belief or ordering your life around it. You must
live with the decisions that millions of people or a handful of politicians you
don’t know make for you.
The State Rewards Hate
Let
individuals live out their own lives according to their own values. Given enough time this situation will
directly lead to resentment and hate. It draws in differences of opinion and
literally makes them a matter of survival, of life and death. This is the
cause of the high degree of animosity between Trump and Hillary supporters.
Between authoritarian liberals and anyone who has a sane opinion. Because those
opinions and political views have a very high chance of actually changing your life
for the worse.
Continuing down
this road we could see the retreat from the peaceful and respectful viewing of
others as buyers, sellers, customers, and clients and the return to seeing
people as enemies out to get us, and different people as dangerous.
The good news
is that there is an easy way to avoid this path. The answer is to let
individuals live out their own lives according to their own values. Punish only
those who aggress against others and let the market take care of behavioral
practices most find distasteful. If a practice or mindset is thought by enough
of society to be immoral or unacceptable, then market produced incentives will
discourage it. With that said however, people’s beliefs become a lot less
threatening to us if they are not able to use force to mandate our compliance
with them.
The State Is Outdated
Quit trying to
control everyone’s world. Focus on your life. Focus on how you can create value
for yourself and others. Be productive. When in a state of freedom, society
tends towards acceptance, productivity, and happiness.
The state is
outdated and as such brings with it the outdated prejudices and divisions of an
older, less developed time. It is true we are largely passing the state up and
making it increasingly obsolete. But because of that, it is clawing at any
chance or division that will maintain its power. It’s time to throw the
state and political systems into the trash bin of history and work diligently
to keep them there.
Ryan Miller is
a student at the University of Michigan.
https://fee.org/articles/markets-transcend-the-archaic-hatreds-sustained-by-the-state/
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