I
have tried over many years to understand the mind-set of individuals who live
off the riches of free enterprise while at the same time condemning free
enterprise. Instead they appear to seek
to destroy free enterprise and replace it with what might be called
collectivism, whereby we have a utopia in which all wealth goes into a common
pot and we are ladled out our portion by some “fair” method (the method yet to
be determined). I recently read a quote by
Spanish
philosopher José Ortega y Gasset, from “The Revolt of the Masses” (1929), who
watched Spain veer from Monarchy to Socialism to Civil War to
Dictatorship. This is the best
explanation I have seen to explain the mind-set of those who would replace free
enterprise. I have taken the liberty of
rewriting his quote to make it a little easier to understand. His original quote follows my rewrite.
My
thesis, therefore, is this: the very efficiency with which goods and services
are delivered to the masses cause the masses to not only take the goods and
services for granted, but to consider the highly organized structure that
delivers them as a natural system, rather than a cooperative system of voluntary transactions, largely free from government interference. Thus is
explained the absurd state of mind revealed by these masses; while concerned
only with their own well-being, they remain clueless to the cause of that
well-being. They do not see what is behind the wealth of goods and services
from which they benefit. Instead, they demand these benefits peremptorily, as
if they were natural rights and will always be there, no matter how many
restrictions they place on those who voluntarily create
and deliver these goods and services. A scarcity of food results in the mob
going in search of bread, and the means it employs is generally to wreck the
bakeries. This may serve as a symbol of the attitude adopted, on a greater and
more complicated scale, by the masses of today towards the system of free
enterprise by which they are supported.
The original quote: Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset,
“The Revolt of the Masses” (1929):
My thesis, therefore, is this: the very perfection with
which the 19th century gave an organization to certain orders of existence has
caused the masses benefited thereby to consider it, not as an organized, but as
a natural system. Thus is explained and defined the absurd state of mind
revealed by these masses; they are only concerned with their own well-being,
and at the same time they remain alien to the cause of that well-being. As they
do not see, behind the benefits of civilization, marvels of invention and
construction which can only be maintained by great effort and foresight, they
imagine that their role is limited to demanding these benefits peremptorily, as
if they were natural rights.
In
the disturbances caused by scarcity of food, the mob goes in search of bread,
and the means it employs is generally to wreck the bakeries. This may serve as
a symbol of the attitude adopted, on a greater and more complicated scale, by
the masses of today towards the civilization by which they are supported.
