Liberalism

I ' m not going to provide any links today, but you ' re all welcome to propose some if there are sources you like. My purpose today is to offer my own perspective on the economic history we ' ve started to discuss with the help of The Communist Manifesto, Karl Polanyi, and Bret Devereaux. By the mid-18th Century the economy of manors and cottage industry and local reciprocity was dissolving into into capitalism. This was sufficiently well underway in England by that Adam Smith ' s famous treatise, the Wealth of Nations, was published in 1776. Smith had a particular understanding of the present in that era which was not well informed by history. He saw the economy of his time and place, which was dominated by monetized market transactions, as a natural state. He argued -- with some caveats that many people who invoke him ignore or are unaware of, because they haven ' t really read him -- that when people unrestrainedly pursue their individual self-interest in a market economy, the overall welfare is maximized. Self-interest is (without much examination) defined as personal enrichment, along with making consumption choices. The implication is that interference in this pursuit by government is necessarily harmful. This doctrine became known as laissez-faire, which is French for " allow to do, " or liberalism. Yep, the people who made this argument in the 19th Century called themselves liberals. That ' s what the word originally meant.Note the rhetorical implications. This ...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs