The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

34 THE FREEMAN Januaryof the founders of the nation to arepublican form of government, asexpressed in our constitution, andthe accompanying atmosphere offaith in individual initiative and afree, competitive market economy,undoubtedly played a great, andperhaps decisive, role in makingpossible the tremendous gains thathave been chalked up in such ashort span of years.But now that we've arrived, soto speak, there are ominous signsof decay and collapse. When onelooks squarely at the prevailingtendencies and conditions it is hardto be optimistic about the future.With the widespread slackening ofthe willingness to work, and workdiligently and well, exemplifiedright and left in absenteeism, carelessperformance on the job, demandsfor ridiculously short weeklyworking hours, to mention a fewof the evidences, a decline in productivityper person can hardly beavoided, even if the momentum ofthe technical march is maintainedfor a time and there is persistentabatement in the rate of populationgrowth. Still more serious is theapparent waxing,among many, ofthe spirit of dependency; thereseem to be few signs of reluctanceto accept a place on the relief rollsand no widespread urge to get offthe list of those who are living atthe expense of the taxpayinggroup. The fearful increase in thelevel of serious crime, includingdestruction of both private andpublic property, the growing cancerof drug abuse, the outrageousirresponsibility and disorder onthe educational front, the carnageon the highways, are examples ofother factors that are rampantand that surely are having a negativeimpact on the quality of livingas well as the quantity of commoditiesand services available forconsumers.Before going on I should pointout that it would be difficult todemonstrate that marked materialprogress is inherently bound togenerate a general downhill slide;but it does seem clear that weAmericans have suffered a severeattack of softening-up, particularlyevident among the coddledand unruly young folks but foundin varying degrees among all agesand classes. And it also seemsclear that some of the seriousproblems with which we are confrontedcould hardly germinate, tosay nothing of growing like badweeds, in the absence of a highlevel of economic output and prosperity.There is a chain of evidence,too, of cyclical patterns ofbehavior among both individualsand groups, historically as well ascurrently, although there is roomfor argument as to underlyingcauses of rise and fall in particularsituations.