In regards to Richard K. Moore's question:
> Dear Salvatore,
>
> Could you say more of what you mean by "liberal, capitalist,
> particularist government" ?
>
>
> -rkm
>
I could take the cheap way out and refer you to my comment on Warren
Wagar's "Praxis of World-Integration" (see
http://csf.colorado.edu/wsystems/jwsr/vol2.html), but I will attempt a
brief answer here.
By a liberal government I mean a government that GOVERNS (creates a legal
environment for the market, provides a court system and enforcement,
"governs" human action to the extent of prohibiting and punishing theft,
murder, pollution, etc.) but does not ADMINISTER any more than is
necessary for carrying out the duties of government (does not direct
production, either directly or indirectly). This is liberalism in Mises'
sense, and also Polanyi's (Polanyi called Mises "the consistent liberal")
By capitalist I strictly mean to refer to the market, not the government;
that is, I mean a market in which individuals or patnerships of
individuals use their own capital (equity) in their businesses, bearing
full responsibility (unlimited liability) for their obligations. If you
take your money and open up a chemicals company, pollute a river, make
enormous profits, take those profits out of the company and buy a mansion,
when people are hurt by your polution, they can sue you and take your
mansion away. Hopefully, if your chemical company operates under a
well-governing government, the government will have anti-pollution laws
and take you to court itself.
By particularist I simply meant non-global. There's no reason why there
couldn't be a wonderful global government, but I think the chances are
much better of there being one or two "good" governments in a world of
over a hundred governments than in a world of one government.
I emphasize: while I am FOR capitalism, I am also FOR active government
(I don't propose a return to the 1840s), and I am certainly AGAINST
a corporate-controlled economy overseen by a corporate-controlled
government.
Salvatore
Salvatore Babones
Sociology Department
Johns Hopkins University
Ph.D. expected Spring '98