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Discover What Capitalism Means
by Glenn Woiceshyn
[The following letter was published in the Financial Post on Jun/7-9/97.]
Dear Editor,
Re: "Ideological Pendulum Swings Back to Centre"--by Monique Jerome-Forget--
May/31-June/2/97--the Financial Post
I suggest that Monique Jerome-Forget learn what laissez-faire capitalism means before
attacking it. First she uses the former Soviet Union--where statism still prevails--as
a straw man. Then she advocates "flexible" government control over the
economy to ensure stability and technological progress.
Laissez-faire capitalism means government protects individual rights (via police,
military and law courts) and leaves economic decisions to the individual. It means
prohibiting the initiation of physical force (or fraud) in human affairs, thus leaving
individuals free to think, produce and trade. No country today comes close to such
a system--not even the U.S. which is heavily regulated by Washington. (The U.S. came
close during the 19th century -- a century of unprecedented peace, technological
progress and economic expansion.)
The greatest technological advances taking place today are in the computer industry
which is today's least-regulated industry. Thinking people do not need politicians
to tell them how to conduct their lives and business affairs. They need politicians
to stop strangling them in red tape and robbing them of their earnings.
To grant politicians "flexible" powers to regulate the economy, as Ms.
Jerome-Forget advocates, is to leave thinking people at the mercy of arbitrary government
decrees, which creates instability and destroys technological progress.
Sincerely,
Glenn Woiceshyn
© 1997 Glenn Woiceshyn. All rights reserved.
This article can be found on-line at at http://www.capitalism.org/glennw. |
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