The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

1972 CAN WE SUSTAIN PROSPERITY? 35Striding into SocialismThe problems and difficulties referredto above are by no meansthe whole story of what ails us.During the past forty to fifty yearsthe freedom of initiative andchoice that we have enjoyed, andthat is so substantially responsiblefor the progress made, has beenrapidly eroded. Government interferenceand control have beengrowing like the psalmist's greenbay tree. Fostered by war andpostwar problems', the depressionof the early thirties, and the policiespromoted during the Rooseveltera, we have seen the hand ofthe state, at all levels, bearingdown more and more heavily onthe mechanism of the market,throughout the economic pipeline.Business men and politicians arestill giving persistent lip serviceto "our system of free enterprise,"but the continuing reiteration ofthis phrase is becoming a bit absurdin the light of the actualstate of affairs. The most discouragingaspect of the situation, forthose with genuine allegiance tothe view that the free competitivemarket is the effective means ofstimulating and directing the economicapparatus, is the extent ofgeneral acquiescence in the marchtoward a completely socialistic society.Indeed, there seems to be an increasingtide of clamor for moreand more government interventionand dictation in the process of productionand distribution, rangingfrom such fields as specificationsfor motor vehicle manufacture tothe details of cereal packaging.This clamor gives evidence of bothgross ignorance and a form ofmysticism. Many act as if theywere unaware of what the freemarket has accomplished for thiscountry, and are equally lacking inthe ability to distinguish betweenthe essence of a· free economy andthe nature of statism. And a hostof people appear to believe that theordinary humans who operate agovernment agency somehow becomesupermen, wizards, whenthey put on the official cloak. Actuallythere is abundant evidencethat government employment isstill not regarded with great favorby many.of the exceptionallytalented and' ambitious and thatthose entering the service of thestate tend to become' insulated bycivil service and other factorsfrom the kind of pressures thatstill prevail in private business,with resulting impairment of anyurge in the direction of top-flightperformance.• Belief in the superiorityof government operationover that of typical private organizationsis surely one of the mostunjustified of all the familiar delusionsfrom which we are suffering.Experience with the mail