Federic Bastiat once wrote that “At whatever point on the scientific horizon I begin my researches, I invariably reach this one conclusion: The solution to the problems of human relationships is to be found in liberty.” While in theory this is what people all over the world want, it is not necessarily true. In the most current dictionary the definition of liberty is as follows: the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views. If everything were actually solved by absolute freedom we would be living in anarchy. I am not a socialist or a communist, my views are that free trade and especially Americans rights to freedom are the way to go. However, I cannot say that the answer to all the problems in the US can be solved with liberty.
Now let me take this time to begin by saying that when people are actually being oppressed then the answer to the problem is actually liberty. But, the issue with this is that some people believe they are being oppressed when they are actually just breaking laws. Hypothetically speaking, if a murderer was to say, “I am being treated unfairly by the justice system, Federic Bastiat said that liberty is the answer to justice, I deserve to be free.” In this situation the murderer truly believes he or she is being oppressed, and that the only option is for liberty. So in this situation for Mr. Bastiat to say that liberty is the answer would not truly be correct.
I agree with the idea that liberty is the answer to a lot of problems that our society currently faces, but when Federic asserts that it is “always” the answer, he immediately loses me. A non-hypothetical situation that liberty would not have solved was the financial crisis that peaked in 2007-2008, or in simpler terms the housing bubble. For those of you reading this that are not sure what lead to the housing bubble, I will give a quick summary. With the deregulation of the Savings and Loans market, the investment banking industry was able to give horrible loans out to millions of people, and after loaning to a point where there were almost no loans to be made on the market, the bubble burst devaluing property and causing a nation wide default of loans. The nationwide default caused nearly all investment banks that had these loans to go bankrupt. In this situation that is still fresh in the mind of many Americans it was too much liberty that caused people to become victims to bad loans. While I am a proponent of free trade, I believe this crisis could have been stopped with companies being told they have to be reviewed periodically to make sure they are in good standing. Sadly, with their unfound freedom these banks took advantage of their liberty.
Mr. Bastiat is radical in saying that everything can be solved with liberty, but at the same time, it is liberty itself that keeps our country what it is. Without free trade and free speech we would be an oppressed nation crumbling under an oppressive government. For our country to thrive we must pride ourselves on liberty, but remember that to much liberty and no law leads to a place that is not fit for living.
The Econ Diaries 