We folk in the free market, private property, limited government movement, devote our lives our sacred honors and our fortunes (a good bit of them anyway; we could probably earn more money in other fields) to this holy goal. It is exceedingly unlikely we shall ever succeed, given human nature; all too many of us seem to be hard-wired in the direction of interventionism.
But let us pause, reflect, take a deep breath, and contemplate what life would be like were we ever to implement this goal.
Government regulation and taxes, if they existed at all, would be very minimal. There would of course still be laws against murder, rape, theft, assault and battery, fraud, and upholding contractual rights, but that would just about be it. Most people would be as aware of who the president is as much as they now know the names of the dog catcher, the chief librarian, or the parks commissioner in their town. That is, they would be blissfully unaware of their identities. There would either be no crime at all, or muggers would be so cowed by the few necessary policemen that they would for all intents and purposes cease and desist. They would still have criminal impulses; “libertarian man” would be pretty much as he is now, but greatly constrained.
As a result, we would be roughly four times richer than we are now. Calculation? The state at present seizes some half of our incomes; absent that, we would be twice as wealthy. But don’t the bureaucrats give us value in return? Not really; GDP statistics would be far more accurate if instead of adding the government sector expenses to what is produced in the market, we subtracted the former from the latter. What do the revenooers do with their 50% of our productivity? They vastly reduce our productive capacities with their inefficient and stultifying regulations. Without that, we arrive at our second doubling: 2x2=4.
What would experiences be like for those of us who have long labored in the vineyards of free enterprise for lo these many years, now that we have finally reached our goal? Work with me on this whimsical imaginary trip; we are now in arguendo mode.
There would be at least one negative for the likes of us. There would be far lesser need for our services. At present, organizations such as the opinion pages of the Wall Street journal (not the rest of that newspaper), Real Clear Markets, the National Post in Canada, organizations such as the Cato, Hoover, Mises, Independent Institutes, libertarian professors at several universities, independent state think tanks in all 50 states, play important roles in promoting liberty and economic freedom. But once this goal has been attained the demand for these services would atrophy. It would not disappear entirely, eternal vigilance being the price of liberty, but it would diminish. Many of us, then, would have to get “real jobs.”
On the other hand, all is not bleak. Our greater wealth, and also its rate of growth, would imply we would be free of all sorts of shackles.
Perhaps we will wrestle to the ground scourges such as heart attacks, strokes, cancer, Covid. Probably there will be relatively soon colonies on the Moon and Mars. They would not be needed as much to preserve the human race from the danger of extinction due to nuclear war, if all peoples attained the libertarian society (“if goods do not cross borders, armies will”), but this would be a nice insurance policy, and would constitute baby steps in toward inter-solar system travel. The speed of light? Here we come. Almost certainly, rain will no longer ruin Mardi Gras parades and marathon races, and deadly storms, volcanoes, typhoons, will be a thing of the past.
Should we free enterprise scholars and advocates welcome such a scenario? Part of the human condition would lead us to reject it. After all, the demand curve for our specialties and hard-won talents will be shifting to the left. No provider of a good or service can relish such an eventuality. But the “better natures of our souls” will welcome it. With alacrity. Still, it cannot be denied that this is somewhat of an anomaly. What we fervently wish for can boomerang and in an important sense reduce our own economic welfare. It is to our credit that we will persevere.