Economics and Its Effect on How We, The People are Governed?

Living on a farm can bring a lot of thoughts to a person. Farming is unique in that it can offer many lessons of life. On a farm a child can be brought up and see for its very eyes how life begins and will inevitably end. On a farm a child can see for its very eyes that no matter how hard a man works he is still dependent upon those things he has no control over, like the weather.

On a farm a child grows up learning how much the family is depending upon each other and learning this learns the meaning of love. He grows up learning the meaning of responsibility for he is given responsibility at a very early age.

On this particular day while grandpa and I were milking the cows, grandpa had this to say while we were listening to Barbara and Neil singing a song on the old radio,

“You know, boy, people are always talking about this economy as being a mixed economy. I have often called it a transitional period between one form of economics to its opposite form of economics. I have often asked both liberals and conservatives at what point it stops being a mixed economy and have never been given an answer that was definite. Neither the right nor the left could give me an answer to show me at what point the People would scream “Stop”

Its as if both sides have agreed that a mixed economy is a third form of economics. Yet now days both sides are at each other's throats because of this conflict too. Health care reform, as it is called, seems to have drawn the line between the sides now. Wild accusations have been thrown with viciousness by both sides. And it has torn this nation apart as no other issue has since the civil war. And that got me to thinking.

If we were to look at a mixed economy as a third form of economics just exactly what would be the result of it in its perfect form. We know how free enterprise would look and we know what socialism would be in their perfect forms but a mixed economy is something I have never seen defined in its perfect form.

We know that the perfect free enterprise system of economics would be reduced down to two individuals bartering over commodities that they had produced themselves or a service which each person would be willing to perform themselves. We also know that it would be a completely unregulated by any third party. With these thoughts based on the perfect form then there would be no need of a government.

Anarchy would rule. This would then be declared as the perfect form of self-government or self rule. Each individual would be responsible for every aspect of his life, including the safety and well being himself as well as of those he took responsibility for. From this viewpoint we can see that the individual has absolute rights and that his success or failures in life would not be dependant upon any other party. It would result in a society without any laws to govern the behavior of individuals of that society other than the laws that an individual imposed upon himself. We often refer to these self imposed laws as laws of morality.

So, when I hear people use the term self government or self rule in reference to what democracy is, this is where I’ll have to respectfully disagree and declare my independence from that group of persons. Democracy, by definition, is just a means by which a society has agreed on to allow itself to impose its will upon the individuals thus attempting to control the behaviors of the individuals of that society.

Democracy has one big flaw. it has served to divide a nation up into majorities and minorities when societies should only be seen in terms of society itself and the individuals of that society. I’d like to think that was the intent of the founding fathers when they used the collective term “The People” in the Constitution. For it is that term that both the individuals of society as well as society itself can be both described in a single word with two meanings.