I finally got around to reading The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek. It seems to be a foundational book for many modern conservative/libertarian; one that informs their world view to a large extent. If I wanted to understand, to any degree how conservatives/libertarians arrive at their positions this book would be helpful.
It was written during the body of the Second World War, beginning at a time when Germany and Japan appeared invulnerable, defeating country after country; the allies, England and her commonwealth but not yet including the United States were pushed to the brink of defeat; it was finished in 1943; the beginning of the beginning of the end for the Axis powers. The Book published in Chicago in 1944. The book feels a bit prophetic, which I think has as much to do with its content as the time and place it was written. The Road to Serfdom is not really apocalyptic; the changing fortunes of the allies over the course of its writing made sure that it would be a warning for Democracy and not a eulogy. Chaos is a breeding ground for such tract. The purpose of Hayek's book is to inform us about totalitarianism; its origins and nature and provide a prescription for its avoidance.
The book within well argued. Hayek is not as shrill as the modern conservative that draw heavily on it in support of more radical positions. The Road To Serfdom is about the rise of Socialism as a Political force as a curative to inequality; primary economic equality by reducing poverty. Socialism aims to reduce poverty through planned economies which necessitates taking on huge powers to regulate the individual and so curtail that freedom to act of the citizen. The transition from socialist to totalitarian state is considered by Hayek as unavoidable; Hayek is of the opinion that economic planning will fail to achieve the desired results through consent; and having disabled the Free Market and Individual freedoms; socialist who sought to govern with consent will be pushed aside those willing to use force to attain their goals. Fascism and Communism are the unavoidable heirs to Socialism. The Road to Serfdom is a book for its time, but less so our time.
Modern conservatives take many liberties with Hayek's major themes. They consider any government involvement in the economy as anathema; though many will ignore subsides to corporation. The planned economy that Hayek feared would erode personal liberty and the efficacy of the Free Market is no longer seriously proposed by any modern liberal democracy and is mostly ignored by those governments that call themselves social democracies. When everything government does comes to be defined as Socialism then the meaning is lost and so is Hayek's warning. Hayek did understand that there are things that governments must do because it is impracticable for private interests to undertake; roads and the like. It is safe to say that among moderns, the list of good government interventions are seriously limited.
Hayek believed that the Free Market was integral to a free society; when you impinge on the former the latter is impaired. I agree that their is a relationship between the two; but see it as a co-evolution. We have the beginnings of political freedom, however narrowly and tenuously applied with the advent of the Magna Carta. The Black Death and the decline of Feudalism; in England, inadvertently gives rise to new economic possibilities, by way of labour mobility and technical innovation. It is hard to give precedence to either economic or political changes that account for the Freedoms we presently enjoy. Modern conservative have a tendency to put forward the Free Market as the fount of our freedoms, in that the are steady with Hayek.
They part ways again on the issue of government support for the citizen. Hayek understands that the Free Market; can unpredictable and may leave labourers destitute and it is in the interest of government to ameliorate as much is possible where doing so doesn't impact the impartial workings of the Free Market. The modern conservatives in an orgy of personal responsibility diatribes seem willing to cut lose the citizen almost entirely.
The Road To Serfdom is an important book, historically and as a way to understand the thinking of the Modern Conservative. Do yourself a favour and read it, but I recommend borrowing a copy from the Library.
No comments:
Post a Comment