Tuesday, March 13, 2012

A fundamental of Progressivism: Capitalism is anarchic

In Friedrich Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom" he quotes(Page 124, first page of Ch 7) Stuart Chase as saying "political democracy can remain if it confines itself to all but economic matters" - which is a remarkably telling statement as to the aims of both Fabians and Progressives alike. Remember, Stuart Chase was a Fabian Socialist, and a member of FDR's braintrust. It was Chase who coined the term "The New Deal".

In "Road", Hayek cites Lippmann for the quote from Chase, but I prefer original sources. Chase wrote this in his book titled "The Economy of Abundance" - on Page 313 - but note how this book was written 1934, this is right around the beginning of the New Deal. This is important to note, as another one of Chase's books "The Road we are Traveling"(1942) notes, free enterprise is being replaced by a centrally planned society.(Page 95) The point of highlighting the dates, is that Chase never changed his beliefs while he was a part of the brain trust.

In regard to the original quote at the top of the post, "political democracy can remain if it confines itself to all but economic matters", what I want to highlight is what comes just after that. So on page 313 of the book "The Economy of Abundance", you will see this:

Political democracy can remain if it confines itself to all but economic matters; democracy in consumption will make enormous strides as standards of living are leveled upward; industrial individualism - anarchy is a better term - in the sense of each businessman for himself, each corporation for itself, must be disallowed.

As I noted just the other day, John Dewey says this, and Woodrow Wilson says this. But looking beyond mere words is the key: How do all progressives act? They all centralize government. They all attack free enterprise.

I am convinced this is a fundamental of progressivism. They all look upon capitalism as anarchic. This is just my opinion, but the thing about having their words directly sourced, is that it means that we necessarily develop the correct interpretation of their actions, and not just some interpretation that we find to be convenient. I encourage all to go digging into my archives and pick apart their words and actions, I don't see many people disagreeing with this notion I've developed.

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle - Sun Tzu

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