The Road (that ought to be) Less Traveled III
This is the third installments of the my critique Juan Forero's NY Times fawning article from last fall entitled "Chavez Restyles Venezuela With 21st-Century Socialism". Keeping in turn with the format of the previous posts in this series, here is the article's third paragraph:
"It's impossible for capitalism to achieve our goals, nor is it possible to search for an intermediate way," Mr. Chavez said a few months ago, laying out his plans. "I invite all Venezuelans to march together on the path of socialism of the new century."
In the first installment of the series I noted that I had made no attempt to synchronize my analysis of the 18 paragraphs in the Times article to the 18 panels of the Road to Serfdom cartoon set. Thus I must chalk it up to coincidence, rather than "plan" that the article's third paragraph and the cartoon's third panel are so similar. With that last thought in mind let us proceed to examine Mr. Chavez' remarks.
Commentary
I'll begin with a point upon which Mr. Chavez agree- there is no intermediate way. The means of one do not suit the ends of the other. By his own declaration, capitalism does not provide the means by which the ends he envisions, we are left with no other conclusion than that socialism does. All that remains to be determined is exactly what exactly Hurricane Hugo's goals are. To answer that question it is first necessary to determine what is meant by "socialism." According to Hayek, socialism may be understood as:
... merely the ideals of social justice, greater equality, and security, which are the ultimate aims of socialism. But it means also the particular method by which most socialists hope to attain these ends and which many competent people regard as the only methods by which they can be fully and quickly attained. In this sense socialism means the abolition of private enterprise, of private ownership of the means of production, and the creation of a system of "planned economy" in which the entrepreneur working for profit is replaced by a central planning body.
This distinction between socialism as ends and socialism as means is one of vital importance as not all with socialist inclinations are equally commited to both defintions:
There are many people who call themselves socialists, although they care only about the first, who fervently believe in those ultimate aims of socialism but neither care nor understand how they can be achieved, and who are merely certain that they must be achieved, whatever the cost. But to nearly all those to whom socialism is not merely a hope but an object of preactical politics, the characteristicc methods of modern socialism are as essential as the ends themselves.
Many people, on the other hand, who value the ultimate ends of socialism no less than the socialits refuse to support socialism because of the dangers to other values they see in the methods proposed by the socialists. the dispute about socialism has thus become largely a dispute about means and not about ends...
A further complicating factor is that fact that "the prime instrument of socialist reform", economic planning, can be but to many purposes, not all of which are good or even benign:
We must centrally direct economic activity of we want to make the distribution of income conform to current ideals of social justice. "Planning" therefore, is wanted by all those who demand that "production for use" be substituted for production for profit. But such planning is no less indispensable if the distribution of income is to be regulated in a way which to us appears to be the opposite of just. Whether we would wish that the more of the good things of this world should go to some racial elite, the Nordic men, or the members of a party or an aristocracy, the methods which we shall have to emply are the same as those which would ensure an equalitarian distribution.
This idea may be the one former President Gerald Ford had in mind when, in warning against excessive government, he said something like "A government big (powerful) enough to give you everything you want is also a government (big) powerful enough to take everything you have."
In all fairness to Mr. Chavez, he may truly want the nobler of the two ends previously outlined, i.e. social justice and equalty, and the like. He may have no intention whatsoever of defrauding the people or amassing a personal fortune and then fleeing to parts unknown. I don't know the man's real motives. What I do know is that he has openly declared that he is building a system which makes the ignoble ends as easy to achieve as the noble ones.
And when we recall that the opening words of this article are "Firmly in power and his revolution in overdrive...", we also know that Chavez is asking the people of his country and the world to trust his motives. I for one can't do that: leaders who make it their business to put business people out of business don't earn my trust. It's the Venezuelan people who are being asked to trust Chavez with their economic future and who are being invited "to march together on the path of socialism of the new century."
As a word of caution to the Venezuelan people I offer this historical reminder: there was another fearless leader of the socialist stripe who undertook a "long march" with his compatriots. Though the march itself lasted only 370 days, "only some 20,000 out of about 90,000 soldiers who had started the march ultimately made it to the final destination." More importantly, the great reward for the people of that great nation was to be led by this greater leader, in one form or another, for another 41 years. Tens of millions more died directly and indirectly as a result of the great "leadership" and planning he provided.
Before saying you Venezuelans have nothing to worry about, before saying that Hugo is no Mao, consider that the leader of the long march actually marched along side his compatriots. He helped them defeat a real enemy - the fascist and brutal Japanese Army- during WW II. Your leader is leading a revolution that is "in overdrive" leading me to think that he's driving while you are marching and that part of his plan may be to drive over you marchers to escape his enemies.
Click here for the "Road to Serfdom" series.
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