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I found this article in Reason
Magazine to be interesting, on one hand the author is defending freedom, yet
on the other hand he is opposed to simple freedoms, such as property ownership!
Go figure! Only thing I can figure is that he is a Government Worker!
Well here is the article and some quick comments. Mark
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In
Praise of Consumerism
When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. And sometimes even get
happy.
By James B. Twitchell
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Mr. Twitchell starts out strong, giving one the hope that a Government Worker
can actually understand something about the real world, when he states:
| "Consumers are not sold a bill of goods; they insist
on it. Snake oil to the cynic is often holy water to the eager. What
looks like exploiting desire may be fulfilling desire." |
Mr. Twitchell is saying something that is really pretty simple when you get
down to it, Consumers (Government Speak for nincompoops in need of Government
Workers for protection (as in Mafia style protection ???)) ... any way...
Consumers are not merely sold a bill of goods, People are able to exercise their
freedom by purchasing what they want! As the Deceleration of Independence puts
it Life, Liberty , and the Pursuit of Happiness.
A good explanation
of the phrase "Life, Liberty , and the Pursuit of Happiness" is in
the following box. I think that this is worth reading because it helps explain
where Mr. Twitchell is really coming from.
| The
Declaration specifically mentions three rights which human beings
possess by birth or by nature-life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness. No one may rightfully deny us these things. Nor, since they
are "unalienable," may we rightfully surrender them.
It is worth remarking that the Declaration does not proclaim a right
to happiness itself. Happiness is not something we have by nature.
Rather we are born with minds and talents that we may use to pursue
happiness.
The Declaration says that these three rights are "among"
our natural rights. We have others in addition. Among the most important
of these are the rights of conscience and property. These are among the
rights specifically guaranteed in the Constitution's first ten
amendments, known as the Bill of Rights.
The right of conscience means religious freedom. As explained in the
Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776: "religion, or the duty
which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be
directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and
therefore all men are entitled to the free exercise of religion,
according to the dictates of conscience." Each of us has a right to
worship God in his own way and time.
As for property rights, they were at the heart of the dispute which
led to the American Revolution. When Americans at the time listed the
rights of man, they often said "life, liberty, and property."
Boston's 1772 "Rights of the Colonists" were typical:
"Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: First, a
right to life; secondly to liberty; thirdly to property." As with
happiness, this is not a right to property itself, but a right to use
one's talents to acquire property, and to use it as one sees fit, as
long as one does not injure oneself or others.
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After impressing us for a while with the notion that it might not be a bad
idea that people are free to buy things, Mr. Twitchell then blows the mood
with the following...
| This isn't to say that I'm simply sanguine about such a
material culture. It has many problems that I have glossed over.
Consumerism is wasteful, it is devoid of otherworldly concerns, it lives
for today and celebrates the body. It overindulges and spoils the young
with impossible promises. It encourages recklessness, living beyond
one's means, gambling. Consumer culture is always new, always without a
past. Like religion, which it has displaced, it afflicts the comfortable
and comforts the afflicted. It is heedless of the truly poor who cannot
gain access to the loop of meaningful information that is carried
through its ceaseless exchanges. It is a one-dimensional world, a
wafer-thin world, a world low on significance and high on glitz, a world
without yesterdays.
On a personal level, I struggle daily to keep it at bay. For
instance, I am offended by billboards (how do they externalize costs?);...
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I am floored. What do billboards represent to me? Nothing short of
Freedom. I celebrate the fact that someone is able to use his property for the
benefit of his family. I celebrate the fact that someone else has a product or
service to trade with other citizens and has found a cost effective way to do
so. If the billboard fails to inform enough free people about their opportunity
to engage in buying and selling, then the buyer of the billboard is free not to
renew the lease, or the owner of the billboard is free to lower its costs.
Any one who is offended by billboards is truly offended by the free market in
action. If a traveler is offended by a billboard placed on private property,
because it obstructs the travelers view of someone else's property, the traveler
is free to purchase the billboard and remove it! "Hey you, let
a finical opportunity pass you by, because I might drive by!" this is Mr.
Twitchell's attitude in a nutshell. Government Workers are trampling on property
rights (freedom) by sucking up to the likes of Mr. Twitchell with mind numbing
sign ordinances.
| More important, perhaps, we have not been led into this
world of material closeness against our better judgment. For many of us,
especially when young, consumerism is not against our better judgment.
It is our better judgment. And this is true regardless of class
or culture. We have not just asked to go this way, we have demanded. Now
most of the world is lining up, pushing and shoving, eager to elbow into
the mall. Woe to the government or religion that says no. |
The key to keeping the mall stocked is Freedom. I hope Mr. Twitchell
is right. Woe to the government or religion that says no to Freedom.
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