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Free market means free individuals
Nothing in
the world would attract people’s passion and attention more than individual
freedom. The freedom to explore their surroundings, communities and countries;
the freedom to read and express their ideas and observations. The freedom to
raise a family and interact peacefully with friends and strangers. The freedom
to pursue an artistic or sports or entrepreneurial activity. Or even the
freedom to bum around and be lazy.
So there
is great misconception when people would object to free market, fearing that
markets are ruled only by giant players and corporations, of monopolists and
oligopolists who have connivance with government regulators and bureaucracies.
Far from it.
All
markets are made of people, rich and poor, young and old, men and women,
sellers and buyers, producers and consumers. Whether we talk of the labor
market, capital market, housing and education market, food and healthcare
market, there are producers and consumers. So when we say free market, it
simply means free individuals.
The
pursuit of individual freedom is an end in itself. People have the freedom to
be industrious and responsible, or the freedom to be lazy and irresponsible.
The freedom to be efficient and excel, or the freedom to be lousy and mediocre.
Hence, people should be allowed to do what they want, including what to do with
their own body, provided that they do not prevent other people from pursuing
their own liberty by inflicting or threatening physical harm and violence.
The
imposition of external coercion and prohibition should be kept to the
minimum. People cannot avoid coercion as
it is a matter of degree. Parents coercing their children to turn off the tv
and do their school assignment may look undesirable for the kids, but it is
within the rights and power of parents exercising their parental freedom and
responsibility for their family.
When
government prohibits killing and murder, shooting and stabbing, stealing and
land grabbing, rape and kidnapping, and uses its armed and coercive powers to
implement this type of prohibitions, then it is expanding individual freedom as
the productive and efficient people can do their work in peace.
It is the
imposition of various other regulations, restrictions and prohibitions by
government that ultimately limits if not kills individual freedom. If people
are prohibited from starting a food or bakery shop, a beauty parlor or computer
shop, unless they get various permits and certificates from different government
bureaucracies first, pay various taxes and fees first, then such coercion is
limiting individual freedom. Or if people are scared of honestly speaking their
minds about the affairs of government and society, otherwise they might land in
jails or be executed, then such coercion is limiting or killing individual
freedom.
The main
function, the raison d’ etre, the reason for existence, of government is to
promulgate the rule of law, the law
against various crimes and aggression, and to protect private property rights
and the citizens’ right to self expression. All
other functions like running banks and hotels, casino and lottery, tertiary
hospitals and universities, are either secondary or unnecessary. Of what
use to a person that he gets free or highly subsidized education, healthcare,
housing and other services for his family, if the fruits of his labor and hard
work can easily be stolen and taken away by bullies, either from the private or
government sector? Or his kids can be abducted or murdered easily and justice
is too far out to be rendered?
People
should assume more responsibility in running their own lives, their households
and their communities. Having solidarity and compassion with the less fortunate
people, the victims of calamities and accidents, does not need legislation and
coercion. It is within human nature and rationality, directly or indirectly,
that such solidarity and charity can happen naturally and spontaneously.
By
assuming more personal, parental and civil society responsibility in running
their own lives, people can rightly assert that their income and savings are
theirs and theirs alone. Taxation will be retained to finance a limited and
lean government that is focused on doing its basic function as outlined above.
One or two consumption-based taxation should be sufficient to finance
government.
Where
there is more responsibility, there is more freedom. The great Austrian
economist and legal philosopher Friedrich Hayek advised that “Freedom and
responsibility are inseparable. People who are afraid of responsibility are
afraid of freedom itself.”
See also:
Busiiness 360 1: Nepal and the Philippines, November 26, 2012
Fat-Free Econ 33: Institutions and Why Governments Fail, December 09, 2012
Lion Rock 4: Leftism and Populism by Intellectuals, November 05, 2012
Pol. Ideology 38: Central Planning vs. Free Market, October 30, 2012
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