The Inner Enemies of Democracy by Tzvetan Todorov

Author:Tzvetan Todorov [Todorov, Tzvetan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf, mobi, azw3
ISBN: 9780745685786
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2014-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

However, given this example, one would hesitate to say, as Milton Friedman, a recent disciple of Bastiat, said of the ultraliberal system, that it ‘brings harmony and peace to the world’. If the Atlantic traffic was eventually halted, this was not as a result of the freedom enjoyed by those involved in it, but thanks to the intervention, on moral and political grounds, of other actors in social life, and ultimately of the states themselves, and thus the general will. The prohibition of trafficking ensured the freedom of the slaves, and the absence of binding legislation ensured the freedom of traders, who were, in addition, much more powerful than the slaves.

The second example concerns ecology. It is unlikely that, without state intervention, market agents would allow the need to protect the environment to trump their immediate interests – especially since it is often the environment of a distant country or in an uncertain future that is at stake. We have many examples to the contrary, including the present state of the entrepreneur’s own country. Not only does he do nothing of his own free will to protect this environment, but he often uses his power and some of his gains to remove any barriers to his action. For example, in 2006, in the oil province of Alberta, Canada, a doctor was alarmed to see cancer rates increase by 30 per cent. ‘Too bad for him. Health Canada, the federal government, is prosecuting him for an “unprofessional attitude” causing “undue concern.”’20 One might well ask whether the oil company did not intervene beforehand …

In April 2010 a BP platform exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, causing the largest oil spill in the history of the United States; it was discovered that the governmental commission that issues permissions for drilling and controls the oil companies is essentially composed of former employees of these very same companies. Unlimited freedom of economic agents does not guarantee – to put it mildly – the protection of the environment, even though this is a common good. Left unchecked, oil companies go for inexpensive and thus unreliable building materials. No wonder: businesses are not individuals with a conscience, and feel no remorse about being guided solely by the profit motive. The limitation of this appetite can come only from a body not in thrall to economic logic.

The secret relationship between Communism and neoliberalism can help us better understand the impressive ease with which, after the fall of the Wall, the new ideology began to replace the old in the countries of Eastern Europe. The collective interest was there viewed with suspicion: to hide its depravity, the previous regime had invoked collective interest so often that no one took it seriously, and saw only a hypocritical mask. If the only thing driving behaviour is, in any case, the search for profit and the thirst for power, if the ruthless struggle for the survival of the fittest is the true (and harsh) law of existence, we may as well stop pretending and openly endorse the ‘law of the jungle’.

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