President Barack Obama addressed the Business Roundtable last week to deny allegations of socialism and to proclaim his "ardent belief in free markets."
Has he become a libertarian? Surely, Obama is not a libertarian on foreign policy. The Nobel Peace Prize-winner still wants to keep our troops on other countries' soil fighting other people's battles. Just as surely he is not a libertarian on social and civil issues. He saved the Patriot Act from expiration last week. He supports warrantless surveillance on phone calls. He laughs off questions about the legalization of drugs. He doesn't even pretend to be a libertarian on health care. He would never allow you to opt out of insurance or allow you to decide what treatments are effective for you. And don't even think about starting a business without paying for health insurance for your employees.
But maybe Obama has recently become a libertarian on economic issues. In his speech, he referred directly to the recent surge of libertarianism in America, citing the rise in anti-government feeling. He used the words "anger" and "frustration" nine times in a single paragraph.
Some of the pro-freedom sentiment goes under the "tea party" moniker. Much of it is due to Ron Paul's influence. But the vast bulk is not an organized movement. It is just millions of ticked off Americans. There is no hierarchical structure with a single leader on top. But Obama cannot fathom anything like that. He thinks he is speaking at least obliquely to the people who "lead" the freedom movement.
He is way off. The Business Roundtable is not a libertarian organization, nor does it speak for any libertarians that I am aware of. While there are numerous legitimate organizations of businesses, most large organizations are barely disguised lobby groups. This same Business Roundtable supported Obama's Recovery Act. Who are they to opine on matters of economic freedom?
Nevertheless, Obama carries on, revealing his total miscomprehension of the basic elements of freedom and liberty. His biggest misunderstanding: He thinks liberty is all about agreeing. How did America achieve "global leadership" in the last century? "[B]y working together to define our destiny and seize the future," he said. And to do it in this century, we must "summon that same resolve." He thinks we can have a thriving America again only if we "move forward as one nation." We must "all pick up an oar and start rowing in the same direction."
The idea that freedom means agreement sounds reasonable at first blush. Indeed, contracts and voluntary exchange are prime indicators of a free country. But freedom and liberty actually prosper through disagreement. Progress and wealth creation comes about because people have different goals. Think of trading volume on stocks. If everybody agreed, there would be no volume. Who would you trade with? Contracts and exchanges occur precisely because people disagree. I value your time more than I value my money; you feel the opposite, so we trade and are both better off.
That is Obama's fundamental flaw. Revising history in a Marxian way, he argues that "throughout history" government has fostered "sustained economic growth." That's absurd. Economic growth is just a measure, like trading volume, of how much people disagree. Sustained economic growth is like sustained trading volume — it can't be imposed by force.
Obama praises his beloved social redistribution programs for helping "secure broad-based consensus that is so critical to a functioning market economy." He fails to understand that consensus kills freedom and market economies, especially when enforced by government.
Obama is not a libertarian (on any issue). But the people increasingly are, and Obama sees the writing on the wall and he is scared. Americans are not angry and frustrated because we want a different consensus. We want no consensus at all. We want to be free to disagree.
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