Hayek, Session 1: So Bad People Can Do Least Harm
Hayek challenges us to confront the possibility that the philosophical language they use to defend liberty shares the same intellectual root as those committed to socialism.
How did you react when you read the above post? On one side, some are relieved that there is pushback against dangerous increases in government power. And in the other corner are those aghast that “lunatics,” like Kennedy, are stopping school administrators from doing what is necessary to keep us all safe.
Most of my readers are probably in the first camp, but we make a grave mistake if we dismiss the other side as lunatics or Big Pharma shills. In his seminal essay “Individualism: True and False,” F.A. Hayek exposes the mindset, adopted in good faith by many people on all sides, that is threatening the foundations of civilization and taking us down the road to collectivism. In his defense of individualism, Hayek explains, “The [false] belief that individualism approves and encourages human selfishness is one of the main reasons why so many people dislike it.”
Another recent example may be helpful. The vaccine advisory committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently voted 8 to 3 to discontinue the universal recommendation to administer the hepatitis B vaccine at birth. Here is what was decided:
The recommendations state that if a mother tests negative for hepatitis B, parents should decide, with the guidance of their health care provider, whether the shot is right for their newborn -- referred to as “individual-based decision-making,” according to a document with the ACIP voting language.
The vote includes that newborns who do not receive the hepatitis B birth dose get an initial dose no earlier than 2 months old.
No matter how you stand on vaccines, this is hardly radical advice. Yet, this is what the governor of New York posted:
New York’s governor succeeded in raising her children under the tent of Big Pharma, and she demands that you follow her example. A wait of even two months for no-risk babies, she hysterically claims, will kill people. And some individuals, who are neither politicians nor employees of Big Pharma, believe the same. We can call them names, or we can seek to understand why their view makes sense to them. Hayek gives us the tools to help understand.
You might recall our study of the mistaken ideas held by those who believe in the common good.
