Liberty, especially economic freedom, is central to the advancement of humanity as whole. There are ways that this can be objectively, quantitatively proven. While I will provide proof of this given a research project I’m doing, it’s already been proven throughout history in obvious manner. That said, a balancing act must be played. Some greed is good, but not all. It’s a double-edged sword, like so many things. So where should the line be drawn? That question must be answered by the many, not the few. Concentrations of power always lead to further concentration, and subsequently abuse of said power. In an authoritarian, communist state? There is no balance, just an act. They own everything at the tip of the top, while saying the people do. However, on the other end of the spectrum, in a Liberal Democratic, Capitalist state, abuses occur over time which lead to a concentration occurring over time through back-handed deception to pick the pockets of the poor and middle-class. But, our Representatice Democracy is supposed to keep those things from happening, so what happens? Things like Regulatory Capture, Crony Capitalism, Elite Capture, Institutional Entrenchment, and eventually some form of Oligarchy. The primary means of control that is utilized in our world is a soft form of power known as money. This world is run by money, by “value”, in almost every way. The only thing beyond that, is violence, or the threat of it. That isn’t necessarily a horrible thing, depending on the guardrails that are put into place.
So, how is Liberty central to the advancement of humanity? Look at the advancements that human beings have made throughout history. Times of freedom have ushered in prosperity and advancement repeatedly. Times and places where people are ruled with an iron fist, where they are not free to think and do as they please, advancement and prosperity languish along with people. I firmly believe that the best bet for securing the future survival of humanity is one of encouraging and embracing technological advancement as quickly as possible. Sure, we could have been like the Native Americans and lived in symbiosis with the land, but with population growth, there would end up being a collapse of species and habitats under that way of life if it never changed and you extrapolate it out over millenia. Now, technology does cause problems. Most things are not inherently good or bad, they are some mix of the two, and how we use them matters immensely. A car can be great for transportation, it can also be used to easily kill other human beings. Same goes for a knife. These amazing engines that power trucks, trains and factories but spew pollution provided us with a great boost in productivity and further advancement but the spectre of fossil fuels now appears poised to doom our planet.
Why do we not utilize and improve upon other technologies that don’t cause the same issues? Greed. Corporations hold too much power and want to keep the money flowing under their existing business model. Sure, they will change and adapt over time to new technologies, but only in a way that is profitable. That takes a long time. What solves this? Competition. The problem there is that regulatory capture has gone so deep that the very industries that are supposed to be regulated are controlling the regulators. Fossil fuels are just one example.
So how does that relate to Liberty? Well, power is shifting, a new type of governance has emerged and people haven’t really understood it. We tend to think that “The Government” is in charge, and they certainly are. However, what controls our government? A lot of it is controlled by multinational corporations now through lobbying, kick-backs, cushy jobs for favors, etc. Originally, our government’s master was The People. Now, it has become corporations. People have been largely turned into cattle in ways. Think about it. The endless entertainment, the never-ending news cycles, the fear-driven infighting. People talk about how the problems from Facebook, the attention economy, endless doom-scrolling, our education system being in shambles and bogged-down with things like policies on pronouns and other useless garbage, but the conversation never seems to go anywhere productive. There’s back and forth, some useless regulations are put into place, and everybody just starts talking about the next thing while we continue down the same path. These things do not lead to a well-educated populous, but rather drones who go to work, go home, consume media and bicker about some other group of people who they’ve been taught not to like. Of course it’s all coincidence, what else would it be? This is especially scary at a time where China is rapidly approaching being the new Superpower of the world. Guess what? Their population is largely cohesive, they are productive, they are well-educated, and united far more than ours. The way things are for us now is not that bad compared to the prospect of living under Communist rule. If you think that the CCP is planning to keep the degree of economic freedom that they’ve allowed for the last 50 years in place forever, you’re dreaming. The sad part and light at the end of the tunnel simultaneously regarding our government’s new master, is that the people do still hold the power.
Regardless, the solutions are fairly simple. The People still hold the power, if we were just to exercise it in cohesive fashion. People can still vote at every level but they get sucked into one of two parties that are on two sides of the same coin. If we had a wave of candidates who were not beholden to anyone, the tide could shift. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of hope for this. The progression of what has happened has just gone too far for too long. It takes another technological shift like the Industrial Revolution or the advent of computing and the internet and cohesive engagement of the populace to turn something like that around. The great thing about technology is that it can provide people with the ability to not rely on others as advancements are made, should they choose to accept it. Interestingly, we are at the precipice of one of these moments in history right now. We’ll see how the distribution of power plays out with the advent of AI and robotics becoming mainstream. We are in the swing of it now, and so far it isn’t as one-sided as I had feared. I hope it leads to a new wave of small-time Entrepreneurship and invention turning into big business, and the outlook there is bright. Otherwise China’s rise may eclipse us.
Nick Jackson 