The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

546 THE FREEMAN Septemberdome Let me begin with these twopremises: (1) Cause and effectoperate in the universe. (2) Selfimprovementis the most effectivemeans of creating freedom.A farmer near Crystal Brook,South Australia said, "I will paya reward of two dollars to anyonewho can tell me something thathappened without a cause." Thereward money attracted many wildguesses from people who wereeager to get an easy dollar fromthis farmer. But none of theanswers were valid.After some thought, most peoplewill concede that everythinghas a cause, but the thought ofhaving to accept responsibility forall of their troubles produces fear.So the concession is hedged : "Yes,but I am not in complete controlof all the causes that producetroubles in my life. It is not myfault that other people injure me,lie to me, and cheat me in variousways. Furthermore, my freedomis curtailed' by a socialistic governmentover which I have nocontroL"Put Yourself in ChargeAssume for a moment that youwere in charge of the planet,Earth, and it was up to you toarrange the scheme of things. Nodoubt, you would want to arrangethe affairs of this world so noone could write you a letter ofcomplaint. The only way you couldavoid all complaints is by establishingperfect justice. What isj ustice e~cept to give to each personexactly what he deserves?The means of accomplishing justicewould be to have cause andeffect operate in all things: goodfor good, bad for bad, no worknopay. In spite of appearances tothe contrary, that is how I perceivethe world to be arranged.Our perception of how the worldis arranged is very important becausealmost all of our actions relateto it.One of my good friends believesthat all diseases are caused byharmful living habits and wrongeating instead of contagiousgerms. To prove his belief in causeand effect to an acquantance, hesaid: "Do you think that God getsup in the morning yawning,stretching and saying, 'Gee whiz,I slept badly last night and I amnot in a good mood this morning.So I think I will show the peopleon earth some of my mighty power.I'll give Jack diabetes, I'll giveTom polio, I'll give Robert rheumatism,I'll give Henry a heart attack,and I'll give Sam cancer.' Ordo you think that God establishedperfect laws of cause and effectwhich work unfailingly and justlyat all times and to all people onthis earth?" Without hesitation,the acquaintance decided that