progressivism, individualism, and the public ... - Telmarc Group

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PROGRESSIVISM, INDIVIDUALISM, AND THE PUBLIC
INTELLECTUAL
A third way in which Keynes needs to be supplemented concerns his relative neglect of
social services—indeed even Otto von Bismarck had more to say on this subject than
Keynes. That the market economy can be particularly bad in delivering public goods
(such as education and health care) has been discussed by some of the leading
economists of our time, including Paul Samuelson and Kenneth Arrow. (Pigou too
contributed to this subject with his emphasis on the "external effects" of market
transactions, where the gains and losses are not confined only to the direct buyers or
sellers.) This is, of course, a long-term issue, but it is worth noting in addition that the
bite of a downturn can be much fiercer when health care in particular is not guaranteed
for all.
For example, in the absence of a national health service, every lost job can produce a
larger exclusion from essential health care, because of loss of income or loss of
employment-related private health insurance. The US has a 7.6 percent rate of
unemployment now, which is beginning to cause huge deprivation. It is worth asking how
the European countries, including France, Italy, and Spain, that lived with much higher
levels of unemployment for decades, managed to avoid a total collapse of their quality of
life. The answer is partly the way the European welfare state operates, with much
stronger unemployment insurance than in America and, even more importantly, with
basic medical services provided to all by the state.
6.5 CAS SUNSTEIN
Cas Sunstein is an attorney by profession and has been on the faculties of University of
Chicago and Harvard. He is a self styled libertarian paternalism, which he contends
means that people should have the freedom to choose yet Government should subtly
influence the choice for the "better". It clearly is the quintessential oxymoron.
Libertarians are extreme individualists, individualists who take themselves and their
freedom as a sine qua non. Having the Government act in a paternalistic manner to steer
your choices is a direct conflict with the freedom sought. But we shall return to that later.
6.5.1 The Constitution
Sunstein is in many ways a Wilsonian progressive. The prime example of this is his work
on the Constitution, specifically the trade press book, A Constitution of Many Minds. As
Wilson had thought the Constitution as it was a hundred years ago had already outworn
its use, so too does Sunstein in this work.
He begins with the defining of what he calls Burkean minimalists. He states 171 :
"Burkean minimalists believe that constitutional principles must be built incrementally
and by analogy and with close reference to long standing practices. Like all minimalists
171 Sunstein, Constitution, p. 36.
Page 171