Join the new world

As an idealistic socialist who turned into an idealistic libertarian, I was able to analyse my transition from left to right, and understand the key fallacies of logic taught by the left. In this post, I provide a brief discussion criticising the ideas of the left, while demonstrating the the elegance of the libertarian society.

It's normal for the youth to be inclined to the left. They like this idea that life shouldn't be such a struggle, that those higher than us shouldn't have it all for themselves. Somehow, they believe that they are exploiting us, and that we are losing out from them. We have this culture of disdain against our bosses and jealousy of the suppliers of essential goods. The idea that the higher are exploiting the lower is nonsense: the world is not zero-sum. There does not necessarily need to be losers if there are winners - that fallacious idea was shed long ago. Trades are mutually beneficial, otherwise the parties involved would not agree.

The redistribution of wealth is appealing to many, but under simple economic arguments, the leftist argument no longer holds up. It destroys the necessary incentives that lead to the efficient allocation of resources envisioned by economists. When the rich and resourceful are taxed disproportionately by a progressive tax system, the incentive to save is distorted, hampering the ability of the rich to supply investment for firms. The act of taxation presents an opportunity cost - the cost of forgone creativity and innovation as a result of reduced investment. It is best to let the rich do what they do best: to invest in firms, and consequently providing jobs for workers.

Another problem with leftism is that despite it's vision to protect the poor, policies designed by leftists directly hurt the poor, or inhibit their potential to transcend from rags to riches via fair opportunity. The illusion that the government tries to purport with ideas such as the minimum wage merely masks the "rags" from the poor. By simple logical principles, a minimum wage will stop unskilled workers from getting jobs. If a worker's unskilled labour is valued at 1 USD, and both parties agree, why should the government stop this trade? Minimum wage prevents the pairing of two individuals who would benefit from mutual voluntary trade, and for no good reason! Other examples would be the taxation of the rich, as explained above, which would reduce investment, which means there are less jobs available for workers. Or, even social welfare: the poor simply become dependent because of the damped incentives to work - slowly eroding their skills and deepening their dependence.

The leftist belief destroys equal opportunities in exchange for "equal outcomes." This may result in Person A earning equally as much as Person B, but what amount do all these people receive? Certainly not as much as the average wage in a free-market society. Under a free-market, those who invest time and effort into innovation and labour are rewarded. The incentives in a free-market society are the driving force for an efficient organisation of resources - reducing the strain of scarcity of resources on society, hence increasing the average wealth of society. Meanwhile, the interventionist state may have equality, but it is usually a case of being "equally poor." Think of the intervention in schools: zoning laws and percentage caps for selective schools, which limit smarter students from getting ahead of the rest - instead, brighter students have an implied obligation to help lift up the grades of struggling students, an impediment to innovation and hence educational stagnation is achieved.

One concern of the youth of today is the lack of attention to civil liberties. It is an unfortunate case that only the left have tended to be the champions of social freedoms, and by default, the free and idealistic youth become indoctrinated in the left. People automatically dismiss the importance of economic freedom because they look at today's conservative parties and think: what would politicians know about freedom if they don't even care about the most fundamental social freedoms, such as the right to gay marriage? The current situation is deteriorating. With conservative parties becoming big government paternalists and the labour parties traditionally being big government interventionists, we are left with a choice between a manager of your bedroom affairs or a manager of your financial transactions.

However, there is a group that responds to both economic and social freedoms. They are called free-market libertarians, and they believe in both social freedom and economic freedom. There is a choice.