2 ' Ca italism has been as immistakab w. It begn a failure. . . .Here is the part that I 5 llilidsetsoegmigg have has been the Friedmans, HayekS. VCRD that socialism ' tained that capitalism would flour 333.13% develop incurable ailments. All three have regarded capitalism as the 'natural' . system of free men; maintained that left to its own devices, achieve material growth more _ successfully/I than;i @3111? other system. From this admittedly impreSSionistic an 1' t' ' sampling I draw the following discomforting genera 12a 1011. ' " ' t has The farther to the right one looks, the more pressien been the historical foresight; the farther to the left, the less so. (WSJ, 2/27/91.) The capitalist policies of Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek, and Ludwig von Mises are the free market policies of a classical liberal. The socialist policies of Robert L. Heilbroner are the oomend-and-control market'policies of a modern liberal. George Melloan has concluded from his study of the right and ' the left that _ The expressions 'right' and 'left' . . .have become almost meaningless. . . . The real battle. . .is. . .between classical liberalism, stressing the rights of the individual, and statism, Stressing the power of the state. (WSJ, 5/23/94) A classical liberal is thus an individualist. An individualist believes that a person should be responsible for his welfare. He should be free to allocate his time, income, and wealth. And he should be led by the \"invisible hand" of free markets to serve the interests of others. In this context, policy makers should treat a person as an individual and not as a member of a group. And they should not prefer one individual over another individual, one group over another group. Thus employees and employers should adjust to their economic situation. Free markets should be permitted to diffuse the. effects of, and the responsibility for, economic change. And economic decisions should 3 be made by buyers and sellers, as in a free market. Similarly, legislators should make laws, as in a democracy. In short, power should be decentralized in many. A modern liberal is a statist. A statist believes that the government should be responsible for the welfare of a person. person should not be free to allocate his time, income, and wealth. And he should be commanded and controlled by the government to serve the interests of others. In this context, policy makers should treat a person as a member of a group and not as an individual. And they should prefer one person over another person, one group over another group. Thus government should adjust the economic situation of employees and employers. Government should control the effects of, and be responsible for, economic change. And economic decisions should be made by politicians, bureaucrats in government agencies, lawyers, and judges, as in a command-and- control market. Similarly, judges should make laws, as in an "authoritarian judicial oligarchy". In short, power should be centralized in a few. A classical liberal may be a libertarian or a social conservative. Libertarians have a broad conception of the kinds of social behavior that should be acceptable. Social conservatives have a narrower conception. A modern liberal may be a social democrat. A social democrat may want to live in a country that has a socialist economic system and a democratic political system. The coexistence of socialism and democracy is a contradictory and incongruous concept. Thus, as4 a conjunction, "social democrat" is an oxymoron. A modern liberal is a mercantilist. Classical liberalism arose in the 17th century in opposition to "protectionist- mercantilism". Thus modern liberalism is older than classical liberalism. Modern liberalism is "old wine in new bottles." sbythe bluodle dramrevonatur1. Liberals by Thomas E. Holland Arthur M. Schlesinger has concluded from his study of Franklin D. Roosevelt that In the longer run, Roosevelt anticipated a narrowing of differences, a measure of convergence, between democratic and communist societies. He told Summer Welles, his under- secretary of state, that, marking American democracy as 100 and Soviet communism as zero, the American system, as it moved away from laissez-faire, might eventually reach 60 and the Soviet system, as it moved toward democracy, might eventually reach 40. (WSJ, 6/21/90) Since Roosevelt introduced his New Deal economic policies during the Great Depression of the 1930's, the American economic system has become less capitalist (laissez-faire) and more socialist (communist) , and the American political system has become less democratic and more authoritarian. Since Mikhail Gorbachev introduced his perestroika (economic restructuring) policies during the 1980's, the Russian economic system has become less socialist and more capitalist, and the Russian political system has become less authoritarian and more democratic. Classical liberals prescribe capitalist and democratic policies. Modern liberals prescribe socialist and authoritarian policies. Classical liberals are called conservatives and the right in the United States. Modern liberals are called liberals and the left in the United States. Robert L. Heilbroner has concluded from his study of capitalism and socialism thatLIBERALS DISCUSSION BOARD ASSIGNMENT WORTH FIFTEEN POINTS Read the Handout Liberals by Dr. Thomas Holland. 1. I want you to craft a paragraph in an essay style format and give your thoughts on the terms and the terms laid out in Liberals. You MUST comment on Classical and Modern Liberals. What really made you think? What stood out to you? What did you learn? 2. Then, I want you write another paragraph where you agree and/or disagree with Liberals. You must tell my why you agree and/or disagree. Color font your second paragraph. Choose any color. This way it will be easier for everyone to find your agree/disagree paragraph. Name a real person who you think is a great example of a Classical Liberal. Name a real person who you think is a great example of a Modern Liberal. Understand, Liberals is written very black and white (meaning no gray). Dr. Holland is not making up these terms (they are very old), but he has compiled and composed them in an article called Liberals. Expectations on crafting your two paragraphs: Each should be comprised of one full paragraph. Generally speaking a paragraph is 5-8 sentences and roughly 100-200 words. Your writing should reflect your collegiate level experience here at DBU. Anything less than 5 sentences and/or 100 words will be docked. ** * * * No late responses accepted in DB. For whatever reason you do not get it done, still do the second part of DB!* * ** *