The Marketplace
The Greek derivation of democracy is: rule or “kratia” by the people, the “demos.”
What initially came to me in August of 1997 is expanded upon by Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises in his critique of Socialism (published 1922) and later works. In an idea rarely expressed elsewhere: the marketplace of capitalism is the ultimate democracy.
As Mises’ scholar William H. Peterson beautifully illustrates:
Under the rule of law, market democracy thrives without taxes, seeks to cut red tape, is without government waste or coercion, is strictly voluntary, self-regulating under competition, erasing shortages and surpluses almost as quickly as they arise, productive. Far from narrow, materialistic, self-seeking, exploitative, it enlists the very core of freedom: choice, consent, and contract.
In political democracy one votes every other year for candidates (who may not win) to ‘represent’ one’s self and many others indirectly on myriad issues. In a market democracy, one votes daily, often, for specific vendors, goods, or services. It is an endless plebiscite of the changing choices and demands, efforts and supplies, hopes and ambitions, of people everywhere.
With dollars as ballots, the market is a referendum going on every minute of every day, billions of separate votes or transactions daily. Here every day is Election Day. Polling booths are ubiquitous, some open 24 hours a day seven days a week. Unlike a political democracy, in the marketplace there is a high percentage of participation, with no problem of a low voter turnout. For it turns the Forgotten Man into the Remembered Man.
Market votes are direct, powerful. According to their merit, we vote rich people poor and poor people rich. Customers are merciless rulers who can return merchandise, comparison-shop, drop brands and vendors at will, demand and win producer efficiency, winning generally lower prices and higher quality. For entrepreneurs, the “candidates,” repeat business is crucial, reputation is ever at stake, competition is tough, courtesy, service, value and accountability must prevail. Or else. Entrepreneurs who drag their feet get sacked.
Private/market democracy is creative, responsive, always striving for a better product at less cost, more honest than today's heavily politicized political democracy. With its enormous individual empowerment, it is truly self-government of the people, for the people, and by the people.
Here you don’t have to register to vote, are not disqualified because of noncitizenship, youth, nonresidency, and so on. Here minorities win respect as we cast ballots for them galore, e.g.: Tiger Woods, Oprah Winfrey. Hindus and Muslims trade with each other -- that is, vote for each other -- in Calcutta, as do Catholics and Protestants in Belfast, Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem, blacks and whites in Johannesburg.
Absentee ballots are needless, for in the marketplace the Albertan can vote locally in Ontario, the New Englander in Florida; in our global marketplace the British Columbian can vote in China, the Japanese can vote in California, the German can vote in Morocco. So sip your tea from Sri Lanka, drive your car with gasoline refined from oil from Kuwait, eat a banana from Ecuador, enjoy your wine from France, your camera from Japan, your furniture from Finland, your cocoa from the Ivory Coast.
Millions of people who are strangers help each other, cooperate with each other, depend on each other. As a global meeting of minds, the market is the embodiment of the old IBM slogan, “World Peace Through World Trade.”
Consider in a free society, countless private hierarchies of power, all informal states in a free society, such as the New York Times, Harvard, N.Y. Stock Exchange, Microsoft, the Southern Baptists, the Salvation Army, Wal-Mart and some 25 million other firms, farms and organizations; all dependent on the individual voter's free assent -- assent withdrawable at will, for any reason whatsoever, according to one’s convictions and conscience.
Far from ‘big business’ being unaccountable to anyone, corporations are democratically led -- and punished -- by their customers with the latter’s make-or-break ‘orders’. In a market society you call the shots, as marketers and producers hear you loud and clear -- at the cash register. Market democracy, marvelous in its inherent dynamics and growth, there is nothing remotely close to it in political democracy. (collected, edited and added to by GJW)
Market democracy is rooted in the individual’s right to life, operates under the rule of law and is privately financed. It is voluntary and decentralized. It is a multilateral exchange of information, ideas, goods, and services -- an arena of creation and innovation where one shrewd thought devours another. As a source of exceptional leadership it is a place where objectivity, truthfulness, competence and accountability are rewarded -- where lies and contradictions are punished.
“Perfection is not of this world. There will always be shoddy products, quacks, and con-artists. But on the whole, market competition, when it is permitted to work, protects the consumer better than do the alternative government mechanisms that have been increasingly superimposed on the market.” (Milton Friedman)
Cleansed by competition, the market is kept economical, thoughtful, moral -- glorifying peaceful trade. Empowering individuals, the marketplace of capitalism is the ultimate democracy.
If a person is caught interfering with the voting process of a political election -- eg: coercing individuals, box stuffing -- it is considered to be a loathsome crime punishable by law.
Someday, when individual rights are fully understood and respected, we will extend this same logic to the election process of a market democracy.
We will abolish government interference and coercion, unfair competition and rigged voting -- i.e., socialist redistribution of wealth schemes -- that upset the intrinsic harmony and balances of the capitalist marketplace.
The Trojan Horse
Nothing has the power to change the world like trade. War pales by comparison. You cannot beat altruistic-religious conviction out of individuals or a culture by means of military force and external subjugation. But open up a marketplace of fascinating, savvy invention, and through personal and cultural exchange individuals will in time freely choose to leave behind oppressive mentalities.
What is perceived as a simple tool bought by somebody in a market is a product that carries with it the philosophy of individualism. Perhaps unknown to the buyer -- a person who may actually vehemently oppose capitalism -- by purchasing this tool he/she has voted for the product, the company that makes the product, and reinforces the philosophy that allows for the production and trade of this tool to take place.
Products and services are the vehicles that carry the philosophy embedded and hidden inside, sneaking by the borders and customs guards of each person’s mind. By means of trade the values and ideals of capitalism are able to infiltrate minds, households, cultures and countries everywhere. From a pen to a hammer to a screwdriver to an axe to a tractor to a cd player to a computer to the Internet, each is a tool that carries the philosophy of capitalism. Each has been given shape and creation for the purpose of liberating individuals.
Trade empowers. This empowerment, in turn, slowly undermines the hold of altruistic philosophies upon individuals as each increasingly finds his or her own mind-body capable to meet the challenges of human existence.
Trade enlightens. The more tools and services that are traded over time translate into more sophisticated thoughts and actions. Little by little, education increases, new ideas circulate, reason becomes entrenched.
Peaceful, benevolent and sublime, the trade of reason secularizes. Reason rebaptizes man back unto earth, devalues faith and exposes the impotence of religion.
Trade beings freedom of action first, freedom of mind second. From the concrete comes the abstract. From the practical comes the ideal.
The Worldview of Capitalism
"Early on in my travels I learned to equate the practical achievements of individuals in a culture with their ability to think. With its spectacular achievements created by an extraordinary thoughtfulness, the philosophy and worldview of capitalism became my favorite." (GJW)
In sum, through the acknowledgment of individual rights and a limited government to safeguard these rights, I view capitalism as the consummate philosophy. The power of human insight and action is revealed in the creative brilliance of its marketplace, the latter being the greatest democracy one can conceive. With my ideal being rationality, rationality as thoughtfulness -- thoughtfulness as the foundation of kindness, love and peace -- capitalism is the most benevolent worldview. It is an an open-ended philosophy capable of self-criticism and adapting to new evidence, ultimately designed to intensify the enlightenment, empowerment and liberation of mankind.