Good Intentions

Al Gore got the Nobel Prize for good intentions. All the people complaining about the fact that his documentary played fast and loose with the facts are missing the point of what the Nobel Peace Prize is about. It's not about actually bringing about peace, it's about having good intentions. Or appearing to have good intentions -- at the moment when the prize is given out. How else to explain Yasir Arafat's prize, which, if we used the same criteria for the Nobel as we do for the Olympics, should have had his prize stripped from him when he refused to accept everything he was asking for from Israel (oh, except for the one last thing he came up with precisely to undermine the agreement). And Gore too has done nothing for peace. He hasn't worked against it like Arafat has done, true, but his work ha done and will do nothing for peace.

In fact, there is good evidence that his intended solutions will in fact make the world a more dangerous place insofar as his socialist solutions will make people around the world worst off. Fewer people die in free countries with free markets, and between free countries with free markets. We have wars when we have dictatorships, socialisms of various forms (especially in their extreme forms, like Fascism and Communism), and the cutting off of trade with countries. And then we could get into the terrible track record of socilaist countries vs. free market countries. One could point to the fact that there is less polution in countries with much lower standards of living -- but the fact of the matter is that in those countries, the standards of lving are low, the death rate high, and the pollution closer to the ground so to speak. Cuba still drives gas-guzzlers from the 50s and 60s, while in the U.S. we drive hybrids (yes, we also drive SUVs, but there is at least the option in the U.S. to buy a hybrid).

The biggest dangers in the world come from countries that are either socialist, are moving toward socialism, or are emerging from socialism into mercantilism. China fits into the latter category. We can only hope she becomes a full-fleged free market soon, or else there is a good chance we will see a war as China attempts to seize the oil resevers she needs to continue gorwing. The Chinese government still does not quite get how one creates sustained and sustainable growth.

It should bother us, then, that there are those who wish to move us toward these very same, dangerous policies that have historically led the world to war. Gore supports exactly the kinds of policies that will put the world in such danger. This is due to his anti-economic thinking. The Nobel Committee has shown that it, too, is anti-economic in thinking. It is this kind of anti-economic thnking that puts the world in great danger of war.

Good intentions are not enough. The Left, if we assume them to be good people, are filled with good intentions. The problem is that almost everything they support makes people poorer, slows down economic growth, and creates the conditions for war. When will we learn this? When will we look at history and finally see this pattern prepeating itself?