Posted on 06/13/2021 10:24:59 AM PDT by RandFan
"Many subscribe to the mistaken belief that the facts speak for themselves, that experience and common sense by themselves can explode false interpretations. The march of Progressivism has proven this fanciful idea wrong."
Ludwig von Mises
Some people among them very keen minds expect either a revolutionary upheaval of the communists, a war with Russia and its satellites, or a combination of both events.
However this may be, it is obvious that the final result depends on ideological factors. The champions of freedom can win only if they are supported by a citizenry fully and unconditionally committed to the ideals of freedom. They will be defeated if those molding public opinion in their own camp are infected with sympathies for the totalitarian program. Men fight unto death for their convictions. But nobody is ready to dedicate himself seriously to a cause which in his eyes is only 50% right. Those who say: "I am not a Communist, but . . . " cannot be counted upon to fight rigorously for freedom and against Communism.
In Russia, in 1917, the Bolsheviks numbered only a few thousand men. From the arithmetical point of view their forces were negligible. Yet, they were able to seize power and beat into submission the whole nation because they did not encounter any ideological opposition. In the vast empire of the Tsars there was no group or party advocating economic freedom. There was no author or teacher, no book, magazine or newspaper that would have declared that freedom from bureaucratic regimentation is the only method to make the Russian people as prosperous as possible.
More...
(Excerpt) Read more at mises.org ...
It was written in the 40's!
Ping
“Men fight unto death for their convictions. “
That is absolutely true. And the reason we’re getting our asses kicked in this culture war is because the left cares about and is willing to fight for its values more than we do ours.
As long as we keep peacefully sitting on our butts without a whimper while the other side keeps ramming down our throats critical Race Theory, and man can get pregnant, and boys competing in girls sports, and girls with dicks using their dressing rooms, and butchering the language so that a man can now be called a wife, and getting rid of words like mother and father and son and daughter and etc,etc, we absolutely deserve to lose and to get whatever else they have in store for us.
That is a great article.
I now consider Mises to have been a great economist. He should have won the Nobel prize in economics. It should be granted posthumously.
If I'm not mistake, he had a hard time keeping a job. Such is the power of left-wing orthodoxy in America.
He was a big influence on F.A Hayek who did win the Nobel Prize in 1974.
Fight for Freedom? What freedom have you lost that isn’t compensated by more handouts from the state? The state keeps you satiated... and are you going to fight when you have your house and swimming pool, cars and vacations? If they take that away, HELL YES! But people are too well off to fight for anything vague like “Freedom.” Fight if they take away your Buick, if they take away your home, your BBQ... then you would fight. If you just owned your stomach and were starving to death you would also fight, because “FREEDOM is just another word for nothing left to lose.” But it’s not like that today in America. People own a lot and have a lot to lose. They don’t want to risk their lives on a vague idea like Freedom.
“fight for its values ‘
Sorry friends, The Left has no values.
They are only interested in power, at any cost to everyone else.
They don’t care about you.
Nope. For too long the Republican party was controlled by free market absolutists. Folk inspired by Mises who are all for free trade, open borders, and mega-corporations.
There are more important things than economics. If doesn’t matter if America is rich if it no longer exists.
Sensible people, including many economists, make distinctions. For example, there is a difference between free trade and open borders. Also, a nation must see to national security. I think Mises understood this, although the insanity of open borders may not have been on the radar in his day.
President Trump opposed NAFTA, yet said something positive about free trade. That appears inconsistent, but I don’t think that it was. The key is to realize that NAFTA was free trade in name only.
The ideal free trade agreement might read: All tariffs and quotas between our countries are abolished. That’s it - one sentence.
NAFTA was some 1100 pages long. It should have been re-christened Not A Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
“Sorry friends, The Left has no values.
They are only interested in power, at any cost to everyone else.”
They sure do - they’re just different than ours, and they’re willing to fight for them.
BTW - power is a value, one of the most valuable ones because it allows you to implement all the other things you care about. For the left it’s collectivism, equality of results and centralized power, among others.
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