The Classic Socialist Trap
I was accused the other day of having fallen into the "classic socialist trap" of assuming that only government can provide 'service X.' The accuser then when on to explain that while it may be true for some services, it is not true for all services.
I felt like I was be accused of being someone I didn't even know.
Of course government can't provide all services. But a major political debate is which services we should allocate to government. I've recently begun to think that people don't even realize what services our government provides. Take note that I didn't say they didn't use these services, just that they didn't realize that they were provided by the government.
The attack continued with me stupidly fighting to protect "sacred cows" in a corrupt government that won't have any Social Security money left when I retire. That I didn't mind so much, it was the whole "socialist trap" thing that bugged me. His answer was, of course, free markets. What bothered me was that he was inferring that I was 100% for X. I'm not sure what he thought X was, but I was 100% for it. Socialism I guess, and I'm too assume that he is 100% free market.
If there is one thing we learned from Cold War it's that communism and capitalism work, roughly, on paper. That's it. Once you have people implement them, they go all to hell. When free markets are left to their own devices, people get screwed. I know they theory is that the customer benefits, but they don't. They get screwed. I live in California. I know all about free market energy. We got screwed. "Aha! Free markets worked," you squeal in delight. "If you weren't so stupid, you would have seen that it was a scam and not bought power at outrageous prices. A flawless system," you declare.
Imagine for a moment free market drug testing. Now, do you really want to take that aspirin? Are you ready to become the byproduct of the classic trap of not doing enough consumer research?
Of course, just I was in the middle of composing my incoherent, rambling reply, my lovely wife sent me a story she had come across.
IHui Tzu said to Chuang Tzu:
"All your teaching is centered
on what has no use."Chuang replied:
"If you have no appreciation for what has no use,
you cannot begin to talk about what can be used.
The earth, for example, is broad and vast,
but of all this expanse a man uses only a few inches
upon which he happens to be standing.
Now suppose you suddenly take away
all that he is not actually using,
so that, all around his feet a gulf
yawns and he stands in the Void;
whith nowhere solid except right under each foot.
How long will he be able to use what he is using?"Hui Tzu said: "It would cease to serve any purpose."
Chuang Tzu concluded:
"This shows the absolute necessity
of what has "no use".
