Free Market Redux
Summary
The free market advocates I've met so far have been intelligent, patient, and extraordinarily civil. I'm not yet fully convinced by their arguments, but that's not as important as that fact that the Citizens' Advisory represents their best chance (and perhaps their only chance) to make the changes they want.
800 words
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by Eric Armstrong
In An Open Letter to A Free Market Advocate, I began a dialogue over the relative merits of free market economies. That article received an extremely articulate, carefully-argued comment from Michael Hartl, Ph.D.
I'll say this: I'm impressed with the intelligence and civility of the free-market advocates I've met so far. Michael presented some well-researched arguments showing how a really free market--one that was free of interference from government--would effectively eliminate the health problems and other problems that were the original motivation for the Citizens' Advisory. For example, he showed that without government subsidies for soybeans, partially hydrogenated oils wouldn't be the profit-maker they are now, so food producers would tend to stop using it.
I have to admit that the arguments were impressive. I'm not sure I agree with them. I rather suspect I don't, in fact. I think there is a balance that needs to be struck between government regulation and market freedom. But whether I'm right or wrong about that, it misses the main point: Free-market advocates need the Citizens' Advisory system to create a truly free market.
My personal opinion is that more government regulation is needed. But I must stress that it is a personal opinion. The articles in this news log are intended to motivate--to show why the Citizens' Advisory is necessary. And the desire for free markets among intelligent thinkers and citizens is one more reason that the Citizens' Advisory is needed.
To reiterate, the goal of the Citizens' Advisory is to get the money out of politics by creating a voting advice system that lets people determine their own fate, free of corporate interference. Right now, corporate lobbyists and campaign contributions effectively run the country. The laws we're passing are benefiting corporations most of all--and many of them are hurting citizens and consumers.
I believe that government legislation is needed to restrain corporate behavior. Free market advocates like Michael Hartl and Russel Nelson believe that government should stay out of the markets. We all believe that giant corporations are using government intervention to dominate their markets. In other words, the one thing we all agree on is that giant transnational corporations who owe allegiance to no one should not be running the country.
Let's assume for the moment that the free market advocates are right, and that government should stay the heck out of the marketplace. How can they get that policy enacted? As long as corporate money dominates the process, they have very little chance. Corporations will continue rigging the game, because they benefit from doing so. They're not about to stop because, philosophically, it's a good idea.
Now let's imagine 100% voter participation in the Citizens' Advisory voting-advice system. In that scenario, corporate money is totally irrelevant to the process. The only thing that free market advocates have to do is to convince a few hundred people about the validity of their position. If they convince the right people, the recommendations those people make will convince a few thousand whose recommendations will, in turn, convince a few hundred thousand more. In the end, millions of people will make their decisions based on the advice of the influential thinkers who have carefully examined the issue and reached the most accurate conclusions they can.
Now, that's an ideal scenario, of course. The reality will undoubtedly lie somewhere between that ideal and the situation we have now. But we know that the system we have now is dominated by corporate money, which makes a truly free market a highly unlikely prospect. The Citizens' Advisory presents a remedy for that problem. It's a remedy that free market advocates need.
At the Citizen's Advisory, we've reached the conclusion that we need to circumvent the political system we now have, and create a true democracy in cyberspace. We support the Clean Money initiatives that restrict the amount of money that goes into campaigns, because they open up the political process to third party candidates and average citizens. But we believe that the Citizens' Advisory is necessary in any case, so those alternative candidates can create effective coalitions.
Today, decisions are made at the ballot box, and they're carried out by the electoral college, which is simply a rubber stamp. But the ballot box has been hijacked by corporate money, so it is no longer an effective decision-making vehicle.
When the Citizens' Advisory's voting-advice system is in place, political decisions will be made by the exchange of ideas, and they'll be carried out at the ballot box. Corporations will have every right to spend their money to persuade others, but the opinions they foster will only go as far as the opinion-holders are trusted--and there will be many more checks and balances on the opinion holders--many more people looking over their shoulder--than there currently are.
About Eric Armstrong
Eric Armstrong is computer systems designer, writer, and philosopher. He is currently working on a book that uses the principles of General Systems Theory to explain how America's epidemic of obesity and disease stems from profitable, but unhealthy, ingredients in the food supply; how the corporate financial system (and our own retirement plans) are complicit in the problem; how the American political system allows it to happen; and how our problems with the environment, a dwindling standard of living, and even our problems with the global economy all stem from the same constellation of systemic interactions. At www.treelight.com/health, he focuses on nutrition and fitness. At www.citizensAdvisory.org, his forming non-profit is working to get the money out of politics. At www.artima.com/weblogs, he writes about software, web technology, and development tools.
About Citizens' Advisory
Corporate money has hijacked the ballot box. The Citizens' Advisory aims to take it back. Our goal is to put people in charge of the political process. The voting-advice system recommended by the Citizens Advisory lets people choose advisors they trust. Done right, that system will enable multi-party coalitions in cyberspace. The system appeals to voters because it's convenient. It appeals to social activists and their organizations because it levels the political playing the field and empowers them with a stronger political voice.
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