05-25-2016, 04:10 PM
(05-25-2016, 12:53 PM)Galen Wrote: Eric the (Green) has given more than enough evidence of mental insufficiency to conclude that he doesn't understand the Mises quote and its implications.
Here's the quote:
Quote:If one rejects laissez faire on account of man's fallibility and moral weakness, one must for the same reason also reject every kind of government action. -- Ludwig von Mises
Allow me to parse it for error. We all know that human nature is flawed. Because of the flaws in human nature, one can of course expect flaws in business -- especially where greed operates. Surely we can all dissent with false and misleading advertising, with having small children work in mines, with the sale of deceptively-labeled cure-alls, and of course with unrestrained destruction of the environment. Milton Friedman, generally very much a proponent of free markets had his answer to the question of how to deal with pollution: tax the Hell out of it!
We should reasonably expect people in positions of trust to act honorably, and to avoid conflicts of interest. Thus a CPA should not entice a client to cheat on taxes and then report the client to the IRS for a reward. (Remember: no matter what the economic order there will be some taxing authority).
We may be unable to have direct democracy, but we can have representative government (although I see that much in doubt in the USA now because special interests get more attention from elected officials than do constituents, which is a perversion of what the Founding Fathers wanted) that protects the rights of those who voted wrong. One can practically look at the Bill of Rights as a collection of "Thou shalt not" commandments, as in
"Thou shalt not abridge the freedom of speech, worship, or of the press"
"Thou shalt not establish a State church, nor shalt thou prevent peaceable assembly for redress of grievances"
"Thou shalt not quarter troops in the homes of private citizens without the consent of those citizens"
The Bill of Rights could have been so written. A legislative vote that authorizes imprisonment without trial or cruel and unusual punishment is void. Democracy has its limits. We have a Constitution as a restraint upon democracy going amok. After all, lynch mobs make their decisions by majority vote, as with the massacre of the Romanov family by the Bolsheviks.
Governments have at the least the duties to enforce laws duly enacted and consistent with the Constitution, to judge criminals and determine cases of civil dispute, and defend the People against invasions. To regulate business? Every country does so.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.