Society today is a mixed economy, just as it has been for the last few centuries. Over time it has lingered between differing levels of state coercion by arbitrary force and free and unfettered private action. The need for regulation has been used for justifying both legitimate (i.e. courts) and illegitimate (i.e. welfare) state intervention. The problem of course is that 'unconditional' servitude establishes no moral standards of conduct or any economic standards for performance. It did not matter that democracy provided representative government, it only mattered that governments 'tried' to achieve it. It did not matter if welfare resolved the poverty problem, it only mattered that governments tried to resolve them. People thought this was morally decent, and decency trumps practical considerations like the right to choose how to utilise one's property, or the right to withdrawal your support from programs which do not satisfy your standards. When taxation becomes involuntary expropriation, public service becomes slavery. The 'conditional statement' (or performance incentive) needs to be returned to public administration. This was actually the basis upon which the feudal lords paid the monarchy. i.e. The landed class or nobles paid the monarchy taxes in order to protect them from invading armies. Today, there is no performance criteria. Now we have 'unconditional' slavery.
We have never had capitalism. Its not that its not practical. It did not exist centuries ago because of the poverty. The only education they needed then was about rights. i.e. They only needed to know that each individuals life was a value, and yet people still don't recognise that today. They are instead burdened with unearned guilt as children, unexplained moral imperatives, unreasonable school rules, unreasonable taxation burdens, misdirected hatred by employers/employees, or other vested interests. No one questioned the ethical principles underpinning their moral code.
Today we have public education, however it is hardly an education if it only teaches us to be well-trained slaves, and effectively entrenches slavery. If you wonder why you have greater political rights or freedom (i.e. The right to freedom of movement), it is because you have less economic freedom. The fact that economic prosperity has delivered you greater wealth, has not so much unshackled you, but bonded you to the state. Business groups will not support economic freedom today, just as the wealthy liberal or worker will not freedom, because they have too many 'economic interests' to lose, and no effective voice in parliament. Of course a great many people delude themselves into thinking they have a voice or a vote. The reality is that they have nothing that is substantive.
------------------------------------
Author
Andrew Sheldon
