The Pursuit of Happiness

In his 1944 masterpiece "The Road To Serfdom". F.A. Hayek wrote

Perhaps the most alarming fact is that contempt for intellectual liberty is not a thing which arises only once the totalitarian system is established but can be found everywhere among those who have embraced a collectivist faith. The worst oppression is condoned if it is committed in the name of socialism. Intolerance of opposing ideas is openly extolled; The tragedy of collectivist thought is that, while it starts out to make reason supreme, it ends by destroying reason. There is one aspect of the change in moral values brought about by the advance of collectivism which provides special food for thought. It is that the virtues which are held less and less in esteem in Britain and America are precisely those on which Anglo-Saxons justly prided themselves and in which they were generally recognized to excel. These virtues were independence and self-reliance, individual initiative and local responsibility, the successful reliance on voluntary activity, noninterference with one's neighbor and tolerance of the different, and a healthy suspicion of power and authority. Almost all the traditions and institutions which have molded the national character and the whole moral climate of England and America are those which the progress of collectivism and its centralistic tendencies are progressively destroying.

Anyone who knows the proud history of England and how they have evolved under the influence of the collectivist idealism which has corroded their society since World War Two can look at present day England and see just how prophetic those words were. Now we Americans are far down the same path.

Every aspect of individualism and individual liberty is under assault by the ever-expanding growth of government and its insatiable desire to intrude into the lives of its citizens. It is not what government does for a citizen that is so dangerous it is what it does to the character and the quality of the individual that is so destructive to the human spirit.

One of life’s hardest lessons to learn is that happiness is not something that can be provided by others, no matter how close they may be, true happiness must be found within oneself. The same is true with reliance upon others for our well being, when an individual begins to believe that others are responsible for their needs it soon transcends from the loss of self-reliance and proceeds to the destruction of self-worth. The “collectivist” mentality holds that it is the responsibility of governments to take care of the needs of the governed.

A couple of years ago Disney put out a popular cartoon feature Wall-E whose goal appeared to be to indoctrinate children of all ages into the evils of unfettered consumerism and thus capitalism. The plot was that we had so destroyed the Earth through our unbridled consumption that we were forced to abandon the planet on giant space ships and leave a cute little robot WALL-E behind to clean up the mess.

Lost in the movies convoluted propaganda was the solution which the people were forced into. The human race was reduced to a population fed and taken care of by a soulless paternal government. Aimlessly we wander through the galaxies with no purpose. The people grow increasingly obese and apathetic to the point of becoming lethargic celestial blobs with no spirit and certainly no ambition. The human race as depicted in this cartoon is the perfect illustration of the only possible outcome of the collectivist mentality if it were ever possible for it to succeed.

But it can never succeed, because humans are not wired that way.

Individuals have different talents, experiences, motivations and a myriad of other characteristics which by our very natures insures that we will take different paths to achieve happiness.

Any attempt at “equalizing” individuals will necessarily limit some people below their potential while elevating others above. Rather than letting each person find his or her own natural and happy level within society, mediocrity becomes the key that is necessary to unlock the door to the collectivist goals. But in reality, as has been proven over and over again, the collectivist key only unlocks a door to a prison cell of the human spirit. Ultimately mediocrity must be enforced with ever increasing regulation and even force upon those who wish to achieve beyond the “norm”, it’s only “fair”.

Everywhere in American society we see this battle being played out between those who see equality in the terms of "fairness" versus those who understand that fairness can only be achieved through freedom. This conflict originates from a very basic viewpoint which few of the collectivist mind set will agree with let alone explore within themselves. The conflict arises from this basic difference of opinion within oneself an internal conflict which every human being grapples with which is:

Man(kind) is inherently bad whose nature must be controlled from the outset in order to protect (pick the victim) the planet, minorities, anything and everything.

Or man is inherently good and freedom is the nourishment necessary to evolve into a more and more enlightened being.

Which is the verdict of history?

All religions like all governments ultimately disintegrate into man's need to control others yet all the great advancements in the human experience have occurred when shackles have been let loose. Whether it be the Reformation, the Renaissance or the Declaration of Independence whenever mankind has been unburdened of restraint the outcome has been periods of enlightenment and growth. The Roman Republic began to crumble not as the result of more freedom but due to the increasing loss of it. We in America are just repeating the pattern of destruction which we were founded in order to abate and personally I don't find that fair.

I came upon the wonderful editorial in The Times today which concludes with the following:

Precisely because human life is prolifically diverse, the history of Utopian politics is littered with offences against freedom by people who thought they knew what the people really wanted. The economics of happiness invariably leads to the politics of paternalism. The happiness gurus would be better off starting with Aristotle’s generous account of flourishing, an idea that implies people choosing their own life course. If politicians need a single objective — and it is not obvious that they do — then setting the people free is a lot better than forcing them to be happy.

So in the end the verdict of the ages is, I believe, the pursuit of Happiness is in fact the pursuit of Freedom.

Or to put it in it's simplest form

Freedom = Happiness


Via-Jer

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