By Selwyn Duke
I always want to shake my head when I hear people deride the capitalist "system." What bothers me isn't just the substance of their criticism though; what also bothers me is an erroneous supposition of theirs, one whose acceptance lends their criticism credibility. What I'm referring to is the fact that capitalism isn't a system in the way communism, socialism, modern liberal paradigms or any other statist economic system is a system. This is because capitalism is simply what occurs naturally when people are left to their own devices - it's a natural consequence of freedom. Let's examine why this is so.
People need and want goods and services and to make a living; this causes them to do their best to produce what they need for themselves. But, then something happens: people realize that other people can produce things they can't, and that if they can avail themselves of those things their lifestyle will be greatly enhanced. This has often led to stealing of course - pillage a town and take what you want - a la the Vikings. The problem with this course of action though, is that it tends to destroy those who are creating what you desire, thereby decreasing their productivity and diminishing the chances that they'll be able to provide what you want in the future. Besides, if I pillage your town you might then pillage mine - an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth. And as they say nowadays, if you follow that path long enough everyone winds up being blind and toothless.
So, man was confronted with a problem: how can you obtain what others have in a moral manner, and one that will enable everyone to live as harmoniously as possible given man's fallen state? What we have come to call capitalism is of course the answer. Way back when, people realized that they could obtain what they wanted from others by providing them with what they wanted in return. Initially, hard goods served as currency, and that's what we call the barter system - I might give you three bushels of wheat for one of your goats. Eventually systems of currency were developed for the purposes of facilitating such trade. But the details are irrelevant to this discussion, because the bottom line is this: capitalism is simply what occurs naturally when people are afforded freedom. They will naturally buy and sell, produce and consume. This is why capitalism cannot be called a system in the usual sense of the word.
A statist economic system is very much a system in every sense of the word. This is because it cannot be effected without a large, powerful, intrusive government that's capable of exerting control over the economy and people's lives. Bureaucracies must exist that can, to some degree, monitor wealth production and then redistribute resources, determine what and how much should be produced, and micromanage a plenitude of other matters. Under capitalism, every individual governs himself based on enlightened self-interest. In other words, the "system" is simply the sum total of people's voluntary actions, and it naturally provides incentives to be industrious and fruitful, and the individual controls himself. Under a statist economic system, every person and entity in society is governed from the top - the government controls the individual. This is why a statist economic system is every bit the system, and why such systems are antithetical to freedom.
What must be understood, is that it is a mistake to lump capitalism into the category of "systems" with a true system like a statist one. This error causes people to draw a moral equivalency between the two and think that they are simply different subspecies of the same animal. It makes them think that capitalism is just one of many social-engineering schemes that we can choose from, when in point of fact it is the only way of conducting matters that is not at all a social-engineering scheme. It's like lumping man into a category with androids labeled "automatons." This could very well inculcate people with a misunderstanding of and lack of appreciation for man's true nature, in just the same way that we exhibit those two failings with respect to capitalism. And what is the true nature of capitalism? Quite simply that: nature. Because a more fitting name for capitalism might be "nature" or "the way things happen naturally." A basic Truth like this will tend to elude us though, because we have a habit of tricking ourselves by attaching fancy words to simple things - this often leads us to believe they're something they're not. People hear a word like "capitalism" and it conjures up in their minds the idea that it must be something that could only be the result of a grand scheme by society's puppeteers. It's as if you not only lumped man into the category of automatons, but then compounded the confusion by labeling him an "organic android."
Now, I don't want to be understood as advocating laissez-faire capitalism. Certain governmental structures are necessary for the mitigation of human frailty: a judicial system that can enforce contracts for instance. But, a prerequisite for a healthy and proper grasp of economics is the understanding that any governmental intervention into the market is nothing less than a meddling with the natural order. It is nothing less than the infringing upon freedom; it is nothing less than the thwarting of nature. For this reason, embarking upon a course of economic-engineering must be undertaken with the same circumspection that genetic-engineering warrants. A misuse of genetic-engineering would be an offense against the dignity of the human person - a misuse of economic-engineering is no less odious. The only legitimate use of genetic-engineering as applied to humans is to correct abnormalities - things such as spina bifida and Down's syndrome. As soon as we try to be Dr. Mengeles and come to believe that we can create a master race, we are playing God and just might end up with a Frankenstein monster. Economic-engineering must be used just as sparingly. Because similarly, when we come to believe that we can create a Utopia, we are playing God and just might end up with an economic netherworld.
