WingRight

Good post at The Volokh Conspiracy on Hayak and another liberal, oops, excuse me, collectivist attempt to discredit his theories.

Larner also criticizes Hayek for ignoring the possibility that “collectivism” could be voluntary rather than imposed by the state. He suggests that Hayek was wrong to ignore the thought of socialist anarchists such as Proudhon and Kropotkin, who favored communal enterprise without state control.

Since when does the collective view seriously eliminate state control? What is “communal enterprise without state control?” should or will properly fit into the collectivist value system. In typical fashion, they will have a special definition, so a small acre garden plot in the city that is jointly owned by 10 people who all cultivate organic produce will qualify, but an oil company won’t.

• Let’s form a corporation to go discover new sources of oil.  Sounds like it would fit the definitition.
• Let’s get together and start a new church.  Ditto.
• Why don’t we buy some land outside of the city, divide it into 5 acre lots, keep a couple for ourselves and sell the rest to whoever wants to buy?  Ditto.

The problem (for collectivists) with all these is that they believe that “communal enterprises” should operate under their standards. Somewhere, there is always a secret definition that will approve of an urban garden plot jointly owned by 10 people where everyone grows organic produce and disapprove of an oil company owned by 10 people wanting to get rich.

The problem is that there is always coercion in a collectivist world. It may take the form of political correctness in a typical sociology department or legislation forcing private foundations to donate to certain favored ethnic groups, but it’s always there. See another Wall Street Journal op-ed about how many collectivist organizations use coercive tactics to prevent initiatives of which they disapprove from getting on the ballot so the public can vote on them - The Far Left’s War on Direct Democracy.

Tags: Liberal Hypocrisy //