Funny How Little Things Have Changed Since 1922
I just started reading Ludwig von Mises' Socialism. My edition is an older one, printed in '81. I've barely gotten into the main body of the text, after savoring F.A. Hayek's introduction and von Mises' own preface to the 2nd German Edition, but already, I am deeply impressed.
In the Preface, he mentions how Marx bypassed the problems plaguing socialist movements preceding him--one of the chief assailants being scientific evaluation--by focusing instead on "arbitrary flights of fancy and metaphysical verbosity," which is a rather loquacious way of saying fantasy and wishful thinking.
That struck me, because a few months before, I had read something very similar in Thomas Sowell's Intellectuals and Society. There, he mentions how a certain ideological bent places a premium on using a lot of $5 words to yield a hay-penny's worth of content (adjusted for inflation). They extol the virtues of "verbal virtuosity" over taking close observation at how the world really works.
This got me to taking inventory of some current happenings that seem to prove the trend. We have a President praised for his oratory but has accomplished painfully little as State Senator, U.S. Senator, and as President. His economic advisors have been stepping down one after the other when their dandily dressed up but puny flights of economic fantasy get beaten up by the schoolyard bully of hard reality. And so, they retreat back to the nurseries of bad ideas from whence they came.
Further still, during this weekend, something was proclaimed that Rick Santelli and most of us already knew back in 2009 -- that despite all the hype pumped into stimulus spending, huge spending programs would not help the economy. In fact, Dr. John Lott recently said "the government could simply have cut a $100,000 check to everyone whose employment was allegedly made possible by the 'stimulus,' and taxpayers would have come out $427 billion ahead."
It's both encouraging and discouraging to see how much of von Mises' observations are still relevant today. He penned Socialism in 1922. That's both amazing and encouraging, knowing that we fiscal conservatives generally tend to know what we're talking about. But it's discouraging in that you had this solid economic wisdom sitting in thousands of bookshelves for so long, and most of the ones that have been in power have heeded it no mind.
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Mar '11
Re: Funny How Little Things Have Changed Since 1922
"...The law of nature, which is reason, if men would but consult it...." - Locke, Second Treatise on Government
Jan '11
Re: Funny How Little Things Have Changed Since 1922
"His economic advisors have been stepping down one after the other when their dandily dressed up but puny flights of economic fantasy get beaten up by the schoolyard bully of hard reality. And so, they retreat back to the nurseries of bad ideas from whence they came."
I absolutely love that line 'nurseries of bad ideas'! I read Hayek & Von Misses in college (they & Thomas Sowell kept me sane) but I'm due for a re-reading with all that's gone on that last couple of years.
It seems that so much of the wisdom these titans espoused is based upon a realistic perception of human nature and that the consistent failing(s) of the left is based upon ignoring this.
Apr '11
Re: Funny How Little Things Have Changed Since 1922
I have a different view of this issue (many conversations with my liberal Georgetown sister and her posse have made me see the light). It's not that liberals don't get it. I truly believe that most of them understand deep down inside that private markets are the best path to wealth and economic growth. But I also think that with a gun to his head, these folks (ie, Obama) would rather grow the economy only 2% with the gov't and liberal programs playing a central part, than grow the economy 6% with a small gov't and few social programs in place. They know that there will be have-nots in both situations, but would rather have the poor on food stamps and other gov't programs in the 2% scenario than have some folks struggling on lower wages in a full employment economy.
It's a dangerous and insidious marriage between a desire for power and moral superiority that's at play here, not simple ignorance which, in theory, can be overcome with evidence and education.
Oct '10
Re: Funny How Little Things Have Changed Since 1922
Archaic Greek society had a good handle on this phenomenon; that's why the Trojan War features Cassandra.
May '10
Re: Funny How Little Things Have Changed Since 1922
I have yet to read Von Mises (though I've visited the Von Mises Institute site a few times). Adding Socialism to my reading list now. Thanks.
The Left loves to pretend its ideas are modern, fresh insights. The truth is that most of our ideological battles have been fought for thousands of years. The real change is in how inherited knowledge and technologies affect the dispersion and fruition of those ideas.
I just started reading Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism. Sometimes, I think of all the books by Ricochet contributors that I've bought and feel so used.