Last week the School of Business hosted two distinguished and fascinating speakers. Doug Casey spoke on “How you can profit from the coming collapse of western civilization,” and Manuel Ayau discussed the need for a free market approach to revitalize the economies of Latin America. Each had a core theme that reflected libertarian, or non-interventionist, values.
First of all, congratulations to the business school for having such speakers. Both were thought-provoking, but I’d like to take a chance to expound on a point in Casey’s lecture.
Casey made the prediction that the United States as we know it will probably not be in the same form within our lifetimes. He was referring to changes that might occur to alter the borders of the America we know.
Casey used Social Security as an illustration of why this might happen. As it stands, everyone at this school, and everyone our age, pays about 12 percent of their paychecks to Social Security. The problem is we will never see that contribution in any way, shape or form. At the present rate, there will be no money left in Social Security when we reach retirement age.
Some people in our generation realize this. And I think more and more are recognizing that we are throwing down for a party that’s going to be over when we get there. So as reality sets in, resentment toward the system is only going to grow.
Added to this are demographic changes in the country. California is more than 50 percent non-white. Casey’s point is that at some future date, a 25-year-old Hispanic guy is going to grow tired of paying his money directly to some rich, old white lady in the Northeast.
Social Security stinks, but there’s also more evidence that this country is going to reach the point of polarization at which things break. Casey didn’t touch on these subjects, but here’s what I see as dangerous trends in the nation.
At the most basic and simple level, look at the past elections. Never has the country been so partisan before.
A little more than half the people who cast ballots voted for Bush and a little less than half voted for Kerry. Can we honestly pretend that George Bush has the mandate of the people when roughly 56 million people think otherwise? The day after the election news sources were reporting that Canada’s immigration Web site had shattered all records for hits.
An even more alarming rift that developed further in the past election is this nation’s move toward a conservative Christian state. Of course there’s nothing wrong with Christianity, but when the line between church and state grows hazy, we have a problem. The religious right is forcing their beliefs on everyone through legislation – case in point, the recent vote in 11 states to ban gay marriage. It’s an invasion of liberty when two consenting adults are prohibited from entering into a union because of the moral convictions of a majority.
Some time in the future all of these disenfranchised groups are going to reach the point at which they start looking for a better way to do things. Not everyone is going to move to Canada, and change will happen here.
A government that respects individual rights and stays out of everything else might become an increasingly attractive alternative. It would keep everyone happy – from our generation, who pay Social Security, to same- sex adults looking to enter into unions. Further, government with smaller role, elections to decide who becomes president will have much less importance. And this doesn’t even begin to touch on the economic benefits of a free market system, as Ayau would attest to.
America is a very different nation from 50 or 100 years ago because there is so much diversity, and all people don’t want the same things in life. Government’s place should be to let people pursue their own happiness, so long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. And unless people and politicians start to understand this, the rift might occur sooner than we think.
