Being Taught by the Students
In today's Wall Street Journal there is an article about Angela Merkel (subscription required), who is the current favorite in the upcoming German elections. It highlights her years behind the iron curtain in East Germany where she had many experiences that "sharpened her political views":
"... Ms. Merkel ... became convinced that the overbearing East German state had caused a decay of society by undermining individual responsibility."
I have a good friend who lives near Budapest and studied economics at Karl Marx University when she lived behind the iron curtain. She taught me a very simple game to play with people to teach them quickly and powerfully the ability of free trade to create real value.
These are but two of many hundreds, if not thousands, of similar stories about post-east-bloc free-market / free-society advocates. They've taught me more than I will ever teach them.
I suppose fish are as unaware of the existence of water as we are of air... or of the benefits of living in a free society. It's unfortunate that it takes people from communist societies to teach us how capitalism works and why it's better than the alternatives. But perhaps those who have experienced the utter hopelessness and destitution of living under communist / totalitarian rule have the first-hand knowledge necessary to open our eyes to the freedoms and wealth we enjoy.
We're lucky they speak up. We're like the frog who has been placed in a pot of cool water on a stove, with the heat slowly being turned up... Had it been boiling to start he would have jumped out immediately. But the gradual increase lulls him towards his demise.
Are we really that different from the East Germans anymore? Look at the learned helplessness of our welfare state, our knee-jerk reaction that the government should step in whenever there's a problem. The class-action suits against everything from cigarettes to fast-food. Social security, Medicaid, FEMA, public this, public that. Is there any indvidiual responsibility left anywhere in this country?
More than 200 years of economic science, expressed in political policy through the classical liberal tradition, exists to lead us towards more freedom, more peace, and more prosperity, but we consistenly ignore it at our increasing peril. Ludwig von Mises concludes his magnum opus, Human Action, with:
"The body of economic knowledge is an essential element in the structure of human civilization; it is the foundation upon which modern industrialism and all the moral, intellectual, technological, and therapeutical achievements of the last centuries have been built. It rests with men whether they will make the proper use of the rich treasure with which this knowledge provides them or whether they will leave it unused. But if they fail to take the best advantage of it and disregard its teachings and warnings, they will not annul economics; they will stamp out society and the human race."
We've been warned so many times, so eloquently...
