Is the choice really between government or business? One of the core values represented by conservatives is that government should be small. So they represent the choice as being between Big Government or small government The role assigned to government should be confined to preserving order within the state and protecting it from external threat. Economic participation limited to regulation of trade. The American constitution sets out the powers of government quite clearly and conservatives have adopted this document to illustrate how good government should work. I might note that Conservatism as it is articulated today has a decidedly economic taste to it. The modern conservative will intertwine economic activity with most any issue.
I won’t sit here and try to convince anyone that government should be building cars or making couches or telling you what colour to paint your house. This is activity best left to Business, most economic pursuits are best handle by the private sector. The question we have to answer is where to put the dividing line, is overlap bad or necessary? Conservatives have answered this already saying that less is better. Liberals proposed that government intervention is necessary, or to put it less militantly, regulation while not a panacea for all economic and societal ills it makes life better. Your legislature should not be picking your paint colours, but it should be ensuring the safety of the product you use. That is the liberal position. The government tries guarantee the safety and quality of products used by the citizen because no individual can. The conservative trends to the idea that everyone is responsible for themselves if the product is bad people won’t use it anymore, the company in question will go out of business and be replaced by a better one that does a better job. I am not saying that conservatives want no regulation but they see the market largely as a responsive self correcting entity that regulation interferes with.
I am not economist but from observation markets don’t always acting according to plan. The Great Recession that we are pulling out of now certainly points to people acting so much in their own interests that they collapsed the system they operated in. Liberals don’t believe in entirely self-regulating economic systems, where there are people there will be self interest, and it is that self interest that needs over sight.
So we can see why conservatives want small government as a way of protecting business. But how does small government protect the citizen? Without being overly dramatic, I can not recall a single incidence of an economic interest protecting rights and freedoms of anyone not part of its’ structure. There are not tails of freed slaves, the down trodden being uplifted, the wrongly accused being championed by a multi national corporation. In the interest of fairness if you google Google you will see how they pulled out of China, they refused to act as an agent of the state police. Well done Google. If you follow this link http://www.business-humanrights.org/ you will find yourself at Business & Human Rights home page. This site offers you a look at the way business operates around the world.
A more specific example of how business is not like government, is a Wal-Mart incident involving the “can I see your receipt please” request. This is the link is from the individual involved weigh its’ value much the same as you would any information, http://cybercoment.com/reviews/walmart/ . The affair consists of a consumer who bought a product the alarm went off as he left store, he was stopped and asked to see his receipt and the man refused. He was detained by store security in his words poorly treated, the police were called. The man confirms that the officer was professional and polite in contrast to the Wal-Mart staff. The police confirmed that the product was purchased and not stolen, the man was however barred for life from all stores. Should the man have offered up the receipt? Maybe, it certainly would have made things easier, but the point to be made here is he had no choice in the matter. The store rules trumped his right to decline. By contrast his interaction with the police is very different. The officer does not demand compliance, but asks the man if he may search him. The implication is that the man has the right to refuse, though refusal also comes with consequences. there is nothing about the Wal-Mart policy that implies the right to say no, compliance is demanded and expected refusal is met with eternal banishment.
The key point here is not the surliness of the shopper but the nature of Wal-Mart, it is acting solely in and for its’ own benefit. While the officer is acting in the interests of both citizen and store. I don’t hate business for being self interested it is what they are designed to be. I don’t expect dogs to sing or cats to fiddle so why would I expect corporation to champion human and civil rights if it is not in their interest to do so. I think that is unethical and immoral but certainly in keeping with the mission to turn a profit.
It is however the purpose of government to guarantee rights and extend those rights to those who are lacking them. It is how I interpret the role of protecting the state from internal dissension and external threat. A government without the resources or the will to properly regulate the economic and social forces at play in society will fail most of its’ citizens. Power within a society is finite and distributed among centres of authority. The less power government wields does not lessen the amount available in a given society it transfers it to some other body willing to use it. Power in the hands of people or institutions with no obligation to the citizen can not be described as a good thing, unless that person or entity is yours. I would rather have power centred in a government contained by law for the benefit of the many.
In the end corporations will and should welcome regulation because it help to ameliorate the exuberance of business.
No comments:
Post a Comment