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By Justin Brandt, Class of 2013
Earlier this semester, a few of us McConnell Scholars delved into F.A. Hayek's Road to Serfdom. I attended a seminar with Dr. Stephan Gohmann, a professor in the University of Louisville's economics department, who guided us through Hayek's work.
The basic argument in Hayek's book is that the public policies taking place in England and the United States around 1944 (when the book was originally published) were frighteningly similar to those that established the roots of Nazism in Germany. Hayek argues that the totalitarianism witnessed in Germany was the inevitable result of socialism. Germany began to tout the importance and capability of social organization that could lead the state to progress beyond the backwards regime of individualism. Once the scholars and politicians merged the passions of nationalism and collectivism, the individual was marginalized and the government transformed into the totalitarian state for which it became known.
Hayek believed that there were "totalitarians in our midst" disguised as socialists who advocated for the "the veneration for the state, the admiration of power, and of the bigness for bigness' sake, the enthusiasm for organization of everything, and the inability to leave anything to the simple of organic growth." His skepticism of the scientists and public policy planners stem from his belief that one cannot control such complex forces of society. He believed that because our world is so complicated to understand, we need to submit to the seemingly irrational and impersonal forces of the market. The only alternative would be to give up power to an "equally uncontrollable and therefore arbitrary power of other men."
Responsibility and freedom reign supreme in Hayek's worldview. The collectivist culture attempts to mandate actions and therefore reduce responsibility and the concept of individual choice (morality). He even warns about balanced approaches or seeking some compromise between traditional liberal values and this concept of a progressively planned state. He fears the slippery slope that Germany experienced.
I really enjoyed this book, and it contains very insightful and thought-provoking answers to one of the fundamental questions (and problems) within our system: What is the proper relationship between an individual and the state? Our founders favored a more limited government, whereas in the modern world, countries like Germany and China have tried to mix market-capitalism with state planning. Is it fair to compare the founders' ideology to the public policies of a much transformed globalized world?
As we continue to pass large-sweeping legislation like the Affordable Healthcare Act, we have to wonder about the direction our country is headed. Many Democrats and Europeans would say Obama's plan is the road to progress. Hayek, libertarians, and the Tea Party would call it the road to serfdom.
Justin Brandt, a senior McConnell Scholar from Ft. Thomas, Ky., is majoring in political science and psychology. Brandt is also the current student body president at the University of Louisville.