Saturday, February 20, 2016

When Government Colonizes Spontaneous Orders

When government colonizes the economic order, that is socialism. That and only that is socialism. If you call anything else socialism, you are wrong, by the definition of socialism throughout the history of socialist thought. Mises and Hayek showed that socialism was impossible. Because the historic evidence wasn't enough for some people. And still isn't.

When the government colonizes philanthropy -- through providing welfare, for example -- that is not socialism. It is welfare. The colonization of philanthropy by government is Welfarism.

The government can also colonize science. Michael Polanyi showed how impractical that was.

The government can also colonize money. Historically, almost all money has been colonized by governments. Those monies not colonized by governments have been the most stable currencies.

The government can also colonize technological innovation, though typically this is subsumed under "socialism," as technological innovation is typically considered to be part of the broader economy, even if it is not in the catallaxy. When government colonizes technological innovation, we call that "stagnation."

The government can also colonize the arts and literature. When it does that, we call the results "censorship" and "propaganda."

The government can also colonize religion (or vice versa -- the result ends up being the same). When it does that, we have a theocracy.

The government can also colonize philosophy. When it does that, we get scholarship.

The government can colonize many things in both direct and indirect ways. For example, the government has mostly colonized our universities, and in doing so, it has managed to mostly colonize our science, social science, art and literature, and philosophy. That is why these areas are increasingly sick.

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