How to Take Capitalism to the Next Level
Libertarianism and similar right-wing ideas have a few core values: The obvious superiority of the free market, the voluntary participation of individuals, people being able to take personal charge of their lives, the desire to reduce wasteful regulations, the importance of entrepreneurship, a principled objection to all coercion, that your private property is your own and the value of democracy. I think you would agree with that, no?
Yet, I also think that most libertarians can tell that the current U.S. system… it does not always live up to this promise of America. So how do we fix this? How do we accomplish these goals in the best way possible? How do we take American capitalism to the next level?
The current system in America is fairly simple: You either start a business or you go to work for someone who owns a business. In case of the latter they pay you a wage and decide when you get promoted and when you don’t. And, eventually, through hard work you hopefully rise up the ranks. But what if there was a third option? An option where you too could become an entrepreneur, even if you don’t have starting capital?
Everyone is an Investor
Imagine this: when you join a company you yourself also become an investor in that company. You are given a certain amount of that company’s stock the moment you decide to participate.
This means you can collect dividends (if the company pays those out) if the company does well that year and your own stocks gain value with your company’s success as well. This would be a fantastic motivator for every individual to work as hard as they possibly can in their own rational self-interest. After all, the better the company does the higher your dividends and the more valuable your stock. Gone are the lazy workers, now everyone is a motivated investor.
Competition and the Marketplace of Ideas
Not only that, but this means companies not only compete externally, but there is internal competition as well. Instead of one person or a small group of “experts” deciding what happens, it’s ideas competing in the market place of ideas instead. As a stock owner you get to take part in the decision making process. Is your company not doing everything it can to maximize your profits? Well, you can vote to change its direction. If you have a better idea and you can convince other people at your company of it, you can all vote for it and then it will become implemented. Essentially turbo-charged innovation as the result of internal competition.
And there’s another advantage here. One of the many problems with government is that it tends to want to assert control over the people in it. This can tend towards the totalitarian and dictatorial. This is very undesireable. We should all be able to choose as individuals, not have people controlling us from the top. One of the ways we’ve attempted to reduce this is to make the government less powerful and empower individual citizens instead more through democracy.
Yet we don’t extend this to other parts of our lives. Companies still largely operate from the top down where a a small group of people decide what you have to do.
I think we all agree that capitalism is great. And I think most of us agree that Jeffersonian democracy is one of the greatest contributions that the U.S. has given to the world. So why not combine the two? Why allow a totalitarian system in a company where you spend 8 hours of every day, when you would never allow it in your government?
In this system you get a vote there too. No more top-down decisions. No more following like a sheep. The individual with the best ideas wins.
But maybe the best part of this is: it will mean less government intervention.
Say Goodbye to Burdensome Regulation
Many people are quick to resort to “get the government involved” to solve every little problem at companies. But I reject this. If the government can’t even take care of having clean water in Flynt Michigan then how are they going to micro-manage every corporation in the country? No, that’s inefficient. And worse of all, it’s essentially totalitarian state power. We don’t want corrupt bureaucrats ruling anything if we can help it. A much better solution is to let companies decide for themselves.
And in the system described above this is easily plausible. If the stock owners are also doing a job within the company then they aren’t going to vote to take away their own safety gear, are they? So why would you need big government to step in to put in safety regulation? It’s simple, these regulations are no longer even necessary. And if certain safety gear is too bothersome. Well, every person at the company is an investor who can vote. Will they really allow something unnecessary to stay when it cuts into their profits? Of course not. Unlike with cumbersome big government, which can take years to scratch unnecessary regulation, there is immediate reaction to the needs of the investors and the company.
Taxation is Theft
The definition of theft is “the taking of another person’s property or services without that person’s permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it.”
I think most people can obviously see that this describes taxation pretty well. Sure, the government technically gives you a choice: You either participate or you get locked up or die. But that’s not really much of a free choice, now is it? No more than a bandit. Stealing is stealing, no matter who does it. Wouldn’t you agree? And, for everyone who wasn’t aware yet, stealing… is wrong. I know, crazy statements here.
But have you ever thought about what other ways people are stealing from you? Other ways people are coercing you into handing over your private property? It’s not just the government that’s doing it.
A basic tenet of a free market is the voluntary association of individuals. I start a company and you willingly decide to work there and produce value that is then sold in exchange for money. However, the way the U.S. currently does this doesn’t always live up to the capitalist, free market ideal.
Because there’s a problem here. There’s this little thing humans have to do, you might have heard of it, it’s called: eating. Not only that, but humans also have to do a whole lot of other annoying stuff. Things like drinking, and pooping, and have a place to live. You COULD choose not to do these things, of course. But you might experience the slight side-effect of being dead as a result. For most people that is rather an undesireable outcome. And this is used by unscrupulous individuals to subvert the voluntary association of the free market and to coerce people into associating with companies they don’t want to associate with.
Some people will try to emulate the government’s tactics and essentially hold death over people’s heads. They offer you a terrible job that’s below your level of talent and the stuff you produce with your own hands? Yeah, we’re taking 70% of that. You don’t like it? Too bad. If you have to choose between either starving to death and living on the street, or taking the job they’re offering… then that’s not a choice. It’s taxation by another name. As previously established, the choice “participate or die” is no more a choice than the choice given to you by a highway robber. That’s not okay whether it’s big government that coerces you or someone else. Once again, stealing is wrong no matter who does it.
But, as usual, an understanding of economics and the marketplace may offer us a solution here.
Voluntary Association and Property as the Most Basic Rights
How do you get this sort of government-like, coercive behaviour to stop? You restrict the supply of people willing to work jobs without the company respecting their right to private property. If you restrict the supply but the demand stays the same, the companies will have to stop their coercive practices in order to attract more people. This is just basic supply-demand. The most basic of basic economics.
So how do we do this? With the market, of course. I propose a new sort of insurance company: Needs insurance.
The concept is very simple: You could voluntarily choose, as a private citizen, to get “needs insurance.” If you get needs insurance then you would pay a membership due. This membership due would be paid out every month to the company, and in return they give you their “needs insurance.” This would be an all-inclusive package which gives you access, free of additional charges, to food, water and housing through their network of supermarkets, housing companies, etc. And if you ever lose your job? Don’t worry. Your insurance will continue to cover the cost of living with the money you’ve already paid. Now all of a sudden you truly have a voluntary choice in the market.
If the jobs offered to you are not what you want and they don’t respect the principle that you should keep the private property you produce, just don’t take them. And you’ll be alright. Because the insurance company, which you’ve already paid into before, will provide you with the food, water and housing you need anyway. They can’t coerce you with starvation or homelessness anymore. And now you can negotiate for the best possible job as an individual.
As a side benefit it might also mean the death of unions. After all, who’s going to join a union when you can easily negotiate better wages yourself? And as a result we are rid of that burden as well.
It would also mean that you can take the necessary time, when you need to, to learn new skills on your own. Or to come up with and work out an idea for your own company. Since now you don’t have to worry about food, water and housing if that’s what you want to do. Complete freedom to spend your time how you see fit.
You have complete control of your own destiny. No government required. And a market that is freer than ever before. What’s not to love?
