WEBVTT NOTE Mises and Austrian Economics: A Personal View 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.200 Mises and Austrian Economics, a personal view by Congressman Ron Paul 2 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:09.500 Introduction 3 00:00:09.500 --> 00:00:20.700 Under the predominance of interventionist ideas, a political career is open only to men who identify themselves with the interest of a pressure group. 4 00:00:20.700 --> 00:00:29.800 Service to the short-run interest of a pressure group is not conducive to the development of those qualities which make a great statesman. 5 00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:38.800 Statesmanship is invariably long-run policy. Pressure groups do not bother about the long run. 6 00:00:38.800 --> 00:00:48.800 I decided to run for Congress because of the disaster of wage and price controls imposed by the Nixon administration in 1971, 7 00:00:48.800 --> 00:00:56.800 when the stock market responded euphorically to the imposition of these controls and the closing of the gold window, 8 00:00:56.800 --> 00:01:03.800 and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and many other big business groups gave enthusiastic support, 9 00:01:03.800 --> 00:01:08.800 I decided that someone in politics had to condemn the controls 10 00:01:08.800 --> 00:01:14.800 and offer the alternative that could explain the past and give hope for the future, 11 00:01:14.800 --> 00:01:19.800 the Austrian economist's defense of the free market. 12 00:01:19.800 --> 00:01:23.800 At the time I was convinced, like Ludwig von Mises, 13 00:01:23.800 --> 00:01:29.960 Mises, that no one could succeed in politics without serving the special interest of some 14 00:01:29.960 --> 00:01:37.460 politically powerful pressure group. Although I was eventually elected in terms of a conventional 15 00:01:37.460 --> 00:01:44.620 political career with real Washington impact, he was absolutely right. I have not developed 16 00:01:44.620 --> 00:01:50.440 legislative influence with the leadership of the Congress or the administration. Monies 17 00:01:50.440 --> 00:01:57.280 are deliberately deleted from routine waterworks bills for my district because I do not condone 18 00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:05.320 the system nor vote for any of the appropriations. My influence, such as it is, comes only by 19 00:02:05.320 --> 00:02:12.220 educating others about the rightness of the free market. The majority of the voters in 20 00:02:12.220 --> 00:02:19.540 my district have approved, as have those familiar with free market economics, and voters in 21 00:02:19.540 --> 00:02:26.060 and other districts encouraged by my speaking out for freedom and sound money influence 22 00:02:26.060 --> 00:02:30.700 their representatives in the direction of a free market. 23 00:02:30.700 --> 00:02:37.740 My influence comes through education, not the usual techniques of a politician. 24 00:02:37.740 --> 00:02:43.340 But the more usual politicians in Congress will hardly solve our problems. 25 00:02:43.340 --> 00:02:48.180 Americans need a better understanding of Austrian economics. 26 00:02:48.180 --> 00:02:52.700 Only then will politicians become more statesman-like. 27 00:02:52.700 --> 00:02:58.860 My introduction to Austrian economics came when I was studying medicine at Duke University 28 00:02:58.860 --> 00:03:03.820 and came across a copy of Hayek's The Road to Serfdom. 29 00:03:03.820 --> 00:03:08.460 After devouring this, I was determined to read whatever I could find on what I thought 30 00:03:08.460 --> 00:03:14.580 was this new school of economic thought, especially the work of Mises. 31 00:03:14.580 --> 00:03:20.740 Although the works were magnificent and clarified many issues for me, it was more of a revelation 32 00:03:20.740 --> 00:03:28.380 to find intellectuals who could confirm what I already knew, that the free market is superior 33 00:03:28.380 --> 00:03:31.380 to a centrally planned economy. 34 00:03:31.380 --> 00:03:37.460 I did not know how a free market accomplished its work, and so the study of economics showed 35 00:03:37.460 --> 00:03:58.020 For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be free from government coercion in any form. 36 00:03:58.020 --> 00:04:03.700 All my natural instincts toward freedom were inevitably challenged by the established school 37 00:04:03.700 --> 00:04:13.700 These systems tried to cast doubt on my conviction that only an unhampered market is consonant with individual liberty. 38 00:04:13.700 --> 00:04:20.700 Although reassured that intellectual giants like Mises agreed with a laissez-faire system, 39 00:04:20.700 --> 00:04:28.700 I was frustrated by knowing what was right while watching the disaster developing for our economy. 40 00:04:28.700 --> 00:04:39.700 The better I came to understand how the market worked, the more I saw the need to implement these ideas through political action. 41 00:04:39.700 --> 00:04:46.700 Political action aimed at change can, of course, take various forms. 42 00:04:46.700 --> 00:04:53.700 In 1776 in America, it was a war for independence from British oppression. 43 00:04:53.700 --> 00:05:00.700 In 1917, in Russia, violence was used to strengthen oppression. 44 00:05:00.700 --> 00:05:10.700 Fortunately, it is possible to accomplish the proper sort of change through education, persuasion and the democratic process. 45 00:05:10.700 --> 00:05:21.700 Our rights of free speech, assembly, religion, petition and privacy remain essentially intact. 46 00:05:21.700 --> 00:05:30.100 Act. Before our rights are lost, we must work to change the policies of seventy years of 47 00:05:30.100 --> 00:05:37.100 government interventionism. And the longer we wait, the harder it will be. 48 00:05:37.100 --> 00:05:42.720 Because of my interest in individual liberty and the free market, I became closely associated 49 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:48.400 over the years with friends and students of Mises, those who knew the greatness of Mises 50 00:05:48.400 --> 00:05:53.600 Mises from a long-term personal friendship with him. My contact, however, was always 51 00:05:53.600 --> 00:06:02.600 through his writings, except on one occasion. In 1971, during a busy day in my medical office, 52 00:06:02.600 --> 00:06:08.440 I took a long lunch to drive sixty miles to the University of Houston to hear one of the 53 00:06:08.440 --> 00:06:16.740 last formal lectures Mises gave, this one on socialism. Although ninety at the time, 54 00:06:16.740 --> 00:06:25.500 He was most impressive, and his presentation inspired me to more study of Austrian economics. 55 00:06:25.500 --> 00:06:30.780 My subsequent meetings in friendship with the late Leonard Reed and his foundation for 56 00:06:30.780 --> 00:06:37.580 economic education also inspired me to work harder for a society unhampered by government 57 00:06:37.580 --> 00:06:42.300 intrusion into our personal and economic lives. 58 00:06:42.300 --> 00:06:57.300 My knowledge has been encouraged and bolstered through the extraordinary work of the Mises Institute, with its many publications and conferences, and its inspiring work among students choosing academic careers. 59 00:06:57.300 --> 00:07:11.300 My friendships with two important students of Mises, Hans Senholz and Murray Rothbard, were especially helpful in getting first-hand explanations of how the market functions. 60 00:07:11.300 --> 00:07:19.300 They helped me to refine my answers to the continual barrage of statist legislation that dominates the U.S. Congress. 61 00:07:19.300 --> 00:07:25.300 Their personal assistance was invaluable to me in my educational and political endeavors. 62 00:07:25.300 --> 00:07:34.300 Such friendships are valuable, but the reassurance that sound thinkers were on my side was inspirational. 63 00:07:34.300 --> 00:07:46.300 It gave me the confidence I needed to intellectually defend my political and economic positions on the campaign trail and on the house floor. 64 00:07:46.300 --> 00:07:50.300 Mises's Character and Its Influence 65 00:07:50.300 --> 00:08:02.300 My association with the Austrian School of Economic Thought has been invaluable to me, but so have the personal testimonials as to the character of Mises. 66 00:08:02.300 --> 00:08:16.300 He never yielded to any temptation to soften his stand, to be more acceptable to the conventional economic community, which proved him to be a man of strong will and character. 67 00:08:16.300 --> 00:08:24.300 If he had softened his stance, his recognition during his lifetime would have been enhanced. 68 00:08:24.300 --> 00:08:33.300 But his goal was economic truth, not a prestigious academic position and superficial acclaim. 69 00:08:33.300 --> 00:08:42.300 His determination and consistency were buoyed by the confidence that he was right, and that rectitude was all that mattered. 70 00:08:42.300 --> 00:09:00.300 Mises was always a gentleman, kind and considerate of all, and I have tried to emulate him. When the world of economists and politicians is going mad, it is difficult to respond with quiet and deliberate discussion. 71 00:09:00.300 --> 00:09:17.300 Yet this response served him well and enhanced his ability to teach. In due time, his quiet voice and those of his students will be heard, despite the shouting and demagoguery that afflicts Washington, D.C. 72 00:09:17.300 --> 00:09:25.300 When exasperated with the current state of affairs, we must remember Mises' admonishment. 73 00:09:25.300 --> 00:09:41.300 No one should expect that any logical argument or any experience could shake the almost religious fervor of those who believe in salvation through spending and credit expansion. 74 00:09:41.300 --> 00:09:46.300 But we must also remember that it is the acceptance of economic interventionism 75 00:09:46.300 --> 00:09:54.300 that breeds this disease of demagoguery that plagues the thinking and speech of the politicians. 76 00:09:54.300 --> 00:10:02.300 After coming to believe in themselves as planners and decision makers for consumers, business people and working people, 77 00:10:02.300 --> 00:10:09.300 the politicians soon can arrogantly rationalize any position for any reason. 78 00:10:09.300 --> 00:10:25.300 It wouldn't be as bad if they knew they were demagogues, at least this would be honest, but this arrogance becomes a way of life and the tool to achieve their next important and necessary intervention. 79 00:10:26.300 --> 00:10:37.300 It is only with full assurance gained from Austrian economics and the example of Mises' character that I am able to tolerate the daily circus of Congress. 80 00:10:37.300 --> 00:10:46.300 Economic knowledge is not nearly as scarce in Washington as one might suspect from a superficial observation of Congress. 81 00:10:46.300 --> 00:10:55.300 Other congressmen frequently express sound judgments to me privately regarding deficits and runaway expenditures. 82 00:10:55.300 --> 00:11:01.300 What they lack is the will to resist the pressure groups. 83 00:11:01.300 --> 00:11:13.300 As desperately as we need a better economic understanding, even more we need Mises's trait of gentlemanly firmness on issues of principle. 84 00:11:13.300 --> 00:11:19.300 Character is more necessary than eloquence in economic theory. 85 00:11:19.300 --> 00:11:24.300 Jacques Roof described well this quality of Mises's. 86 00:11:24.300 --> 00:11:40.300 With an indefatigable enthusiasm and with courage and faith undaunted, he has never ceased to denounce the fallacious reasons and untruths offered to justify most of our new institutions. 87 00:11:41.300 --> 00:11:49.300 No consideration whatever can divert him in the least from the straight, steep path where his cold reason guides him. 88 00:11:49.300 --> 00:11:56.300 Murray Rothbard in The Essential Ludwig von Mises writes that Mises reacted to the darkening economic world around him with a lifetime of high courage and personal integrity. 89 00:11:56.300 --> 00:12:13.300 Murray Rothbard in The Essential Ludwig von Mises writes that Mises reacted to the darkening economic world around him with a lifetime of high courage and personal integrity. 90 00:12:13.300 --> 00:12:21.300 Never would Ludwig von Mises bend to the winds of change that he saw to the unfortunate and disastrous. 91 00:12:21.300 --> 00:12:36.300 Neither changes in political economy nor in the discipline of economics could bring him to swerve a single iota from pursuing and propounding the truth as he saw it. 92 00:12:36.300 --> 00:12:40.300 The Subjective Theory of Value 93 00:12:40.300 --> 00:12:46.740 The study of Austrian economics has helped me in many ways to understand what happens 94 00:12:46.740 --> 00:12:53.480 in our economy and the excuses of the establishment economists as to why we're not achieving the 95 00:12:53.480 --> 00:13:00.300 paradise that politicians promised if only their legislation were passed. 96 00:13:00.300 --> 00:13:06.580 It is time, of course, for them to do some serious explaining, since after 70 years of 97 00:13:06.580 --> 00:13:21.580 Of all the important contributions of the Austrian School, the subjective theory of value has proven most helpful to me in understanding why things aren't as the interventionists say they ought to be. 98 00:13:21.580 --> 00:13:26.580 According to the soothsayers, there's always an easy excuse. 99 00:13:26.580 --> 00:13:32.580 and why things aren't as the interventionists say they ought to be. 100 00:13:32.580 --> 00:13:37.580 According to the soothsayers, there's always an easy excuse. 101 00:13:37.580 --> 00:13:40.580 In Russia, it's always the weather. 102 00:13:40.580 --> 00:13:46.580 In the interventionist United States, it's timing, the technicians, 103 00:13:46.580 --> 00:13:52.580 the residuals of capitalism, tax policy, too little spending, 104 00:13:52.580 --> 00:14:00.580 existence to the wrong special interest, and so forth. The excuses are endless. 105 00:14:00.580 --> 00:14:05.740 Except for a few other members, no one in Congress has ever heard of the Subjective 106 00:14:05.740 --> 00:14:13.780 Theory of Value, or the Labor Theory of Value for that matter, and none really care. Yet, 107 00:14:13.780 --> 00:14:20.380 I believe it is crucial for them to understand the theory if true reform is to be achieved. 108 00:14:20.380 --> 00:14:25.140 Since little thought has been given to the fundamentals, smatterings of the labor theory 109 00:14:25.140 --> 00:14:32.340 of value still motivate many in Congress to promote legislation that will secure a fair 110 00:14:32.340 --> 00:14:35.200 return for the working man. 111 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:41.120 The explanation of how individuals acting freely in the market determine values and 112 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:50.120 prices of specific goods dispels the myths spread by both the Keynesians and the monetarists. 113 00:14:50.120 --> 00:14:55.720 Misesians blame the Arabs for the inflation. The monetarist, limiting their thoughts to 114 00:14:55.720 --> 00:15:01.720 quantity of money as the sole determinant of prices, raise more questions than they 115 00:15:01.720 --> 00:15:10.040 answer. It has only been through a basic understanding of how price is determined subjectively that 116 00:15:10.040 --> 00:15:16.000 I have not yielded to the plausible arguments of the planners who are able to dwell on 117 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:20.720 on partial truths and short-term consequences. 118 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:26.680 When viewed from an Austrian viewpoint, stagflation is hardly the mystery it was proclaimed to 119 00:15:26.680 --> 00:15:33.120 be in the recession of 1974 to 1976. 120 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:37.600 There are some who have heard of the subjective theory of value but are hesitant to accept 121 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:43.080 it because they prefer objectivity to subjectivity. 122 00:15:43.080 --> 00:15:56.080 Yet, if consumers subjectively set prices and values by affecting supply and demand, and thus sales, this is an important objective finding. 123 00:15:56.080 --> 00:16:08.080 Just because we can measure monetary aggregates, or hours spent producing a product, we decide these objective facts can be used to determine value. 124 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:17.080 Yet it is really not the way prices are determined, so these facts are not objectively useful for this purpose. 125 00:16:17.080 --> 00:16:30.080 Those who would use these objective facts for calculating future price levels are quick to reject the objectivity of certain economic laws that are glaringly apparent, 126 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:37.080 such as government planning leads to chaos, printing money creates no new wealth, 127 00:16:37.080 --> 00:16:46.680 to Wealth, Fiat Money Cannot Replace Commodity Money Without Force and Fraud, and so forth. 128 00:16:46.680 --> 00:16:52.360 They thus reject subjectivity where it is important in understanding how individual 129 00:16:52.360 --> 00:16:59.600 prices are set and ignore objective economic laws so that their schemes of planning can 130 00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:01.860 be pursued. 131 00:17:01.860 --> 00:17:05.760 This is a mechanism of both convenience and ignorance. 132 00:17:05.760 --> 00:17:12.640 It allows planners in Washington to persistently defy all economic laws so the politicians 133 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:21.440 can pursue preconceived and erroneous notions of what is best for everyone. 134 00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:27.480 Once they accept the idea that prices are an objective consequence of certain previous 135 00:17:27.480 --> 00:17:41.480 In most events, money supply, oil boycotts, wage settlements or farm policy, they naturally feel that prices can be altered easily. 136 00:17:41.480 --> 00:17:54.480 Legislation to establish wage, price, credit, dividend and profit controls have been introduced in the House and conceivably could be passed if conditions warrant it. 137 00:17:54.480 --> 00:18:05.480 Although free market pricing is crucial for sending necessary messages to entrepreneurs and consumers, its origin is totally misunderstood in Washington. 138 00:18:05.480 --> 00:18:09.480 So it is no wonder our economy remains threatened. 139 00:18:09.480 --> 00:18:18.480 If there is no general understanding of the essentials of a free pricing structure, the market economy will always be threatened. 140 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:24.480 And without a free pricing structure, the market cannot function. 141 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:32.480 To understand how prices are determined, one must understand the subjective theory of value. 142 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:35.480 The Importance of Money 143 00:18:35.480 --> 00:18:46.480 Today, it's hard to believe that it was a major breakthrough in economics for Mises to show logically that under socialism, prices cannot be established. 144 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:56.480 Is it any wonder that socialist nations, without subsidies from a capitalist nation, are unable to feed themselves? 145 00:18:56.480 --> 00:19:06.480 This is why the threat of communism would be greatly reduced if only we could stop our elected officials from bailing these countries out. 146 00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:13.480 Only force enables a system to survive without a free market pricing mechanism. 147 00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:18.480 Without a Free Market Pricing Mechanism 148 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:27.480 Against a background in free market economics, the disastrous effects of wage and price controls are never a surprise. 149 00:19:27.480 --> 00:19:37.480 In spite of both recent and ancient failures of wage and price controls, they, as well as credit controls, currency controls, and an attack on hard assets, 150 00:19:37.480 --> 00:19:52.880 will be used to our great economic detriment because the political pressures to continue the tremendous deficits are so strong in Washington and, inevitably, the dollar will be destroyed. 151 00:19:52.880 --> 00:20:01.280 Since we cannot predict the future because we cannot know the subjective decisions of millions of consumers and producers, 152 00:20:01.280 --> 00:20:18.280 We cannot know exactly when this will come about, yet we can be certain from history that the politicians will continue to destroy our money and that they will put off for as long as possible the consequences that must follow. 153 00:20:18.280 --> 00:20:23.280 Mises writes that eventually we must make a choice. 154 00:20:23.280 --> 00:20:28.280 Men must choose between the market economy and socialism. 155 00:20:28.280 --> 00:20:38.280 The state can preserve the market economy in protecting life, health and private property against violent or fraudulent aggression, 156 00:20:38.280 --> 00:20:44.280 or it can itself control the conduct of all production activities. 157 00:20:44.280 --> 00:20:57.280 Some agency must determine what should be produced. If it is not the consumers by means of demand and supply in the market, it must be the government by compulsion. 158 00:20:57.280 --> 00:21:09.280 Understanding money is the key to restoring a sound economy. Since entering politics, I have spent more time on the money issue than any other. 159 00:21:09.280 --> 00:21:14.880 Austrian Economics and especially Mises's writings have been especially helpful to me. 160 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:22.400 Mises's explanation of how money originated in the market as a useful commodity convinced me 161 00:21:23.040 --> 00:21:29.440 that money once again must be returned to the market as a commodity. 162 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:37.680 Politicians inevitably destroy money when they gain control of it and attempt to make it a 163 00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:51.740 Mises understood how the money issue became as much a political issue as an economic one. 164 00:21:51.740 --> 00:21:58.980 His insights helped me to oppose both liberal and conservative excuses for deficits. 165 00:21:58.980 --> 00:22:06.180 Both factions, regardless of rhetoric, depend on a fiat money system and inflation. 166 00:22:06.180 --> 00:22:12.260 Mises hide the exactions necessary to continue government financing while serving the special 167 00:22:12.260 --> 00:22:17.740 interests who get the new money before the depreciation is recognized by the general 168 00:22:17.740 --> 00:22:19.420 public. 169 00:22:19.420 --> 00:22:25.700 My support for legalizing competition in currencies has obviously been influenced by the Misesian 170 00:22:25.700 --> 00:22:27.920 explanation of money. 171 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:33.620 This is one area where we can even get the monetarist to agree. 172 00:22:33.620 --> 00:22:41.060 This explains that money, like any commodity, has a marginal utility and its value is set 173 00:22:41.060 --> 00:22:43.340 subjectively. 174 00:22:43.340 --> 00:22:48.740 This has helped me refute the pure quantity theory of money as presented by the Chicago 175 00:22:48.740 --> 00:22:50.300 School. 176 00:22:50.300 --> 00:22:57.060 Money as a commodity must have a quality to it and consumers must trust the money for 177 00:22:57.060 --> 00:23:02.540 it to function, something increasingly absent today. 178 00:23:02.540 --> 00:23:08.900 Once this is understood, there is no mystery as to why the bond market acts as it does 179 00:23:08.900 --> 00:23:16.500 and why interest rates are too high as the monetarist and Keynesians have proclaimed. 180 00:23:16.500 --> 00:23:22.820 The most common misunderstanding in Washington regarding money is the conviction that economic 181 00:23:22.820 --> 00:23:27.000 growth depends on money growth. 182 00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:34.080 Ricardo mentioned this, but it was Mises who emphasized and clarified this point. Duplication 183 00:23:34.080 --> 00:23:40.840 of money units bestows no social benefit. If it did, we'd have a hard time explaining 184 00:23:40.840 --> 00:23:47.440 why economic growth did so poorly in the 1970s when the Federal Reserve Board nearly tripled 185 00:23:47.440 --> 00:23:54.440 the money supply, M3. Yet today the vast majority of the bureaucrats and politicians believe 186 00:23:54.440 --> 00:24:06.440 Without money growth, economic growth cannot occur. They see money as separate from taxing, spending and regulatory policies. 187 00:24:06.440 --> 00:24:20.440 Without an understanding of value, pricing and money quality, it is virtually impossible to explain to them that prices can easily adjust downward if a free market requires it. 188 00:24:20.440 --> 00:24:28.440 The prevailing opinion is that falling prices are synonymous with depression, an obviously erroneous idea. 189 00:24:28.440 --> 00:24:36.440 Those who believe this do not understand the nature of capital, that it comes from productive effort and savings. 190 00:24:36.440 --> 00:24:42.440 They believe capital is something you get when the Fed increases the money supply. 191 00:24:42.440 --> 00:24:46.440 In a critique of interventionism, Mises wrote, 192 00:24:46.440 --> 00:24:56.440 By its very nature a government decree that it be cannot create anything that has not been created before. 193 00:24:56.440 --> 00:25:04.440 Only the naive inflationist could believe that government could enrich mankind through fiat money. 194 00:25:04.440 --> 00:25:23.440 Government cannot create anything. Its orders cannot even evict anything from the world of reality, but they can evict him from the world of the permissible. Government cannot make man richer, but it can make him poorer. 195 00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:36.440 In applying the concept of the marginal utility of money, Mises superbly explains the befattlement expressed by the conventional economist about government's velocity statistics. 196 00:25:36.440 --> 00:25:57.440 The propensity of consumers to hold cash or to spend explains why sometimes prices go up more slowly than some say they should, and why they go up more rapidly than they should at the end of a currency destruction, in spite of the slowing of new money creation. 197 00:25:57.440 --> 00:26:03.440 Only Austrian economics can adequately explain these economic occurrences. 198 00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:08.440 In 1913, Mises published The Theory of Money and Credit. 199 00:26:08.440 --> 00:26:15.440 In this masterpiece, he gave us all we would have needed to avoid the financial calamities of the 20th century, 200 00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:20.440 and possibly even the wars fought with the weapon of inflation. 201 00:26:20.440 --> 00:26:23.440 Tragically, the US took another course. 202 00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:26.440 With Colonel House advising President Wilson, 203 00:26:26.440 --> 00:26:32.480 In 2007, we established a powerful central bank and introduced the destructive graduated 204 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:37.840 income tax, all in that same year. 205 00:26:37.840 --> 00:26:46.180 The subsequent cost in human suffering and loss of freedom has been immeasurable. 206 00:26:46.180 --> 00:26:47.180 Several Special Points 207 00:26:47.180 --> 00:26:54.440 The clear explanation provided by Mises of the nature of money and inflation has served 208 00:26:54.440 --> 00:27:00.960 helped me well in defending a hard money system. Understanding the subjective theory of value 209 00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:06.680 has been most helpful to me personally in understanding all the contradictions pressed 210 00:27:06.680 --> 00:27:12.480 by the establishment economist, but it does not lend itself to popular expression on the 211 00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:19.720 House floor. In contrast, the truth about money and inflation and how inflation benefits 212 00:27:19.720 --> 00:27:26.720 is much easier to present in ordinary language. Understanding the concept of time preference in explaining and defending profits and interests is not practical in general debate, but it is useful in providing the information to show that the liberal, well-farist and socialists are absurd in their contentions that we are not aware of. 213 00:27:49.720 --> 00:28:15.720 In a similar way, Mises' refutation of the Marxian theory of the inevitability of class struggle is beneficial for reassurance, but not useful practically, since those who are in charge of Congress neither understand nor care to understand something they would consider esoteric. 214 00:28:15.720 --> 00:28:33.720 Nevertheless, it is important for a defender of capitalism to understand the Austrian explanation that capitalism ends class struggle, builds a huge middle class and raises the standard of living of everyone. 215 00:28:33.720 --> 00:28:45.720 The specific choices of consumers become key in a free market, which can exist only in a nation that has a high regard for individual liberty. 216 00:28:45.720 --> 00:28:59.720 Although the politicians in Washington refuse to think in these terms, the fact is that positive change will only come when our intellectual leaders accept the importance of concepts like 217 00:28:59.720 --> 00:29:07.520 time preference, the nature of class conflicts, and subjective valuations. When the Austrian 218 00:29:07.520 --> 00:29:14.280 view becomes commonly accepted, capitalism will result from a political order that holds 219 00:29:14.280 --> 00:29:19.360 individual liberty in high esteem. 220 00:29:19.360 --> 00:29:22.080 The Business Cycle 221 00:29:22.080 --> 00:29:27.840 There are some in the U.S. Congress who are knowledgeable and enthusiastic about socialism, 222 00:29:27.840 --> 00:29:33.880 and who fight for it as tenaciously as I fight for the free market. But their numbers are 223 00:29:33.880 --> 00:29:43.480 few. For the most part, the members are well-intentioned, ostensibly pragmatic do-gooders, pragmatic 224 00:29:43.480 --> 00:29:49.440 enough to latch on to the interventionism most beneficial to their particular political 225 00:29:49.440 --> 00:29:58.600 needs, and to provide an intellectual defense. Whether Keynesians, supply-siders, or monetarists, 226 00:29:58.600 --> 00:30:07.320 there is always an explanation for deficits, taxes, central banks, fiat money, inflation, 227 00:30:07.320 --> 00:30:15.480 and all flavors of interventionism. Yet the bulk of the members remain well-intentioned, 228 00:30:15.480 --> 00:30:21.520 But by their compromises, seriously mislead. 229 00:30:21.520 --> 00:30:26.480 Actually compromise becomes a beneficial philosophy in itself. 230 00:30:26.480 --> 00:30:36.020 If one does not compromise, he becomes rigid, sterile, impractical, egotistical, ideological, 231 00:30:36.020 --> 00:30:38.860 and ineffectual. 232 00:30:38.860 --> 00:30:44.920 Politics becomes the art of compromise, yet with closer scrutiny it's easily seen that 233 00:30:44.920 --> 00:30:59.920 It is the compromisers who are rigid, sterile, impractical, ideological and egotistical in their defense of the very dangerous system of interventionism and inflation. 234 00:30:59.920 --> 00:31:09.920 It is rare in Washington for anyone to be accused of deliberately hurting the poor. No one deliberately creates unemployment. 235 00:31:09.920 --> 00:31:10.920 and Employment. 236 00:31:10.920 --> 00:31:16.960 No one likes high interest rates, rising prices or a falling standard of living. 237 00:31:16.960 --> 00:31:23.140 They all claim they know how to prevent suffering brought on by the business cycle, yet nearly 238 00:31:23.140 --> 00:31:31.720 all accept the proposition that the cycle comes out of uncontrolled capitalism. 239 00:31:31.720 --> 00:31:38.000 Since only a handful ever studied Mises's superb explanation of how government monetary 240 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:46.640 policy creates the cycle. Only foolish political solutions are offered. Even monetarism offers 241 00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:54.640 no help since commodity money is condemned and the subjective theory of value rejected. 242 00:31:54.640 --> 00:32:01.080 It's tragic to watch, day after day, the flow of statist solutions from both parties 243 00:32:01.080 --> 00:32:06.700 in Washington, while knowing the answers are readily available, if our current leaders 244 00:32:06.700 --> 00:32:15.860 would only open their eyes, reject demagogues and restore order with a sound monetary system 245 00:32:15.860 --> 00:32:19.580 and a free market economy. 246 00:32:19.580 --> 00:32:27.200 I found Rothbard and Sennholz's Austrian explanation of the Great Depression truly eye-opening. 247 00:32:27.200 --> 00:32:32.820 Convinced of the cause of the Depression both from the theoretical, Mises, and the more 248 00:32:32.820 --> 00:32:40.100 For practical, Rothbard and Sennholz, viewpoint, I became more determined than ever to work 249 00:32:40.100 --> 00:32:48.500 for a sound monetary system without a central bank or political paper money. 250 00:32:48.500 --> 00:32:53.780 All people concerned with the suffering and degradation of unemployment should study the 251 00:32:53.780 --> 00:33:02.340 Austrian explanation of how distorted interest rates, malinvestment, skewed economic calculation 252 00:33:02.340 --> 00:33:07.420 and preferential treatment for favored business and government constituencies 253 00:33:07.420 --> 00:33:12.060 cause the crime of the business cycle. 254 00:33:12.060 --> 00:33:16.460 Politicians are easily misled and conveniently tempted by the boom 255 00:33:16.460 --> 00:33:21.260 phase of the cycle, as Mises points out. 256 00:33:21.260 --> 00:33:24.820 Thus it conclusively proved that the slump 257 00:33:24.820 --> 00:33:28.220 whose appearance the inflationist attributed to 258 00:33:28.220 --> 00:33:36.220 An insufficiency of the supply of money is, on the contrary, the necessary outcome of 259 00:33:36.220 --> 00:33:43.540 attempts to remove such an alleged scarcity of money through credit expansion. 260 00:33:43.540 --> 00:33:49.260 This demonstration could appeal to statesmen intent on promoting the enduring well-being 261 00:33:49.260 --> 00:33:51.620 of their nation. 262 00:33:51.620 --> 00:33:58.200 It could not influence demagogues who care for nothing but success in the impending election 263 00:33:58.200 --> 00:34:06.600 Campaign, and are not in the least troubled about what will happen the day after tomorrow. 264 00:34:06.600 --> 00:34:12.460 Obviously one cannot deal in politics without being aware of human nature and how interventionism 265 00:34:12.460 --> 00:34:18.640 attracts demagogues. Refuting the demagogues who prayed about their great skills during 266 00:34:18.640 --> 00:34:25.920 the boom and shout louder and louder for statism as the busts get more severe with each cycle 267 00:34:25.920 --> 00:34:33.040 seems an overwhelming task. It is easy to see that many economic recoveries are nothing 268 00:34:33.040 --> 00:34:40.640 but more of the same, spending and inflating our way into a new cycle, hoping for yet another 269 00:34:40.640 --> 00:34:47.800 boom which may or may not materialize. Eventually the deceitful trick of inflation will fail 270 00:34:47.800 --> 00:34:54.900 to create prosperity. When that time comes, due to the sustained period of inflation that 271 00:34:54.900 --> 00:35:02.100 that we have endured, we can expect a serious political and economic crisis for Western 272 00:35:02.100 --> 00:35:12.420 civilization. The incantations of supply-sideism, monetarism, or Keynesianism will not suffice, 273 00:35:12.420 --> 00:35:21.380 and the fascist and socialist voices of oppression will grow louder and more influential. 274 00:35:21.380 --> 00:35:29.340 and Politics. My main motivation in entering politics was to contribute something toward 275 00:35:29.340 --> 00:35:36.780 establishing a free society. This desire, combined with the Austrian arguments for the 276 00:35:36.780 --> 00:35:43.740 efficient functioning of the market economy, has served me well. The particular interest 277 00:35:43.740 --> 00:35:51.220 that has occupied my time and interest has been the issue of money and inflation. It 278 00:35:51.220 --> 00:35:57.540 It is impossible to concentrate on money and inflation and ignore foreign affairs, however. 279 00:35:57.540 --> 00:35:59.660 The two are intertwined. 280 00:35:59.660 --> 00:36:05.500 The fact that economic interventionism leads to a lowering of our standard of living is 281 00:36:05.500 --> 00:36:07.420 bad enough. 282 00:36:07.420 --> 00:36:17.060 But its breeding of excessive nationalism, protectionism, economic isolationism, militarism, 283 00:36:17.060 --> 00:36:25.220 and War should prompt us all to fear for the fate of freedom and even civilization itself. 284 00:36:25.220 --> 00:36:31.380 Mises's prediction that the U.S. type of interventionism will lead to a German type 285 00:36:31.380 --> 00:36:39.020 of national socialism appears to be accurate. In Human Action, Mises states, 286 00:36:39.020 --> 00:36:50.020 An essential point in the social philosophy of interventionism is the existence of an inexhaustible fund which can be squeezed forever. 287 00:36:50.020 --> 00:37:00.020 The whole doctrine of interventionism collapses when this fountain is drained off. The Santa Claus principle liquidates itself. 288 00:37:00.020 --> 00:37:12.020 Evidence of his prediction is all around us today. We can only hope that we can turn things around before his prediction that it leads to a German type fascism comes true. 289 00:37:12.020 --> 00:37:28.020 The non-liberals who admit to the failure of their brand of interventionism now plot schemes for re-industrialization, a euphemism for fascism, government partnership with business, 290 00:37:28.020 --> 00:37:36.420 Business, Banking Regulation No. 1 and the Defense Production Act, already on the books, 291 00:37:36.420 --> 00:37:43.300 allow under emergency conditions for an economic despot to take charge almost immediately. 292 00:37:43.300 --> 00:37:49.340 In a panic, it will not take much to topple us over. Since Americans dislike outright 293 00:37:49.340 --> 00:37:57.500 government ownership, we will have the deception of private ownership in combination with government's 294 00:37:57.500 --> 00:38:04.300 Authoritarian Control over the Economy, and some businessmen under this system will always 295 00:38:04.300 --> 00:38:13.480 hope to secure greater profits at the expense of innocent and unknown victims. 296 00:38:13.480 --> 00:38:20.740 In Human Action, Mises points out, aggressive nationalism is the necessary derivative of 297 00:38:20.740 --> 00:38:26.140 The Policies of Interventionism and National Planning 298 00:38:26.140 --> 00:38:32.760 While laissez-faire eliminates the causes of international conflict, government interference 299 00:38:32.760 --> 00:38:41.440 with business and socialism create conflicts for which no peaceful solution can be found. 300 00:38:41.440 --> 00:38:48.440 While under free trade and freedom of migration, no individual is concerned about the territorial 301 00:38:48.440 --> 00:39:01.440 and the size of his country. Under the protective measures of economic nationalism, nearly every citizen has a substantial interest in these territorial issues. 302 00:39:01.440 --> 00:39:17.440 The enlargement of the territory, subject to the sovereignty of his own government, means material improvement for him, or at least relief from restrictions which a foreign government has imposed upon his well-being. 303 00:39:17.440 --> 00:39:37.440 What has transformed the limited war between royal armies into total war, the clash between peoples, is not technicalities of military art, but the substitution of the welfare state for the laissez-faire state. 304 00:39:37.440 --> 00:39:52.000 Interventionism generates economic nationalism, and economic nationalism generates bellicosity. 305 00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:58.320 If men and commodities are prevented from crossing the borderlines, why should not the 306 00:39:58.320 --> 00:40:02.160 armies try to pave the way for them? 307 00:40:02.160 --> 00:40:07.600 The root of the evil is not the construction of new or dreadful weapons, it is the spirit 308 00:40:07.600 --> 00:40:10.440 of conquest. 309 00:40:10.440 --> 00:40:18.920 As Mises shows, the spirit of conquest is the problem, not the weapons themselves. 310 00:40:18.920 --> 00:40:25.400 For this reason, he places no confidence whatever in treaties and conferences which to him were 311 00:40:25.400 --> 00:40:29.520 all bureaucratic nonsense. 312 00:40:29.520 --> 00:40:35.440 International tensions are building as never before, with the war on terrorism fueling 313 00:40:35.440 --> 00:40:42.000 more terrorism, which provides more rationale for the war. 314 00:40:42.000 --> 00:40:48.840 The magnitude of these tensions is even greater than in the 1930s. International debt is deeper. 315 00:40:48.840 --> 00:40:55.840 The degree of worldwide inflation is more ominous. Gold has been discredited by all 316 00:40:55.840 --> 00:41:25.840 Western Governments, the engines of inflation throughout the world are running at full throttle, struggling to keep the debt pyramid from collapsing. True capital formation diminishes yearly. Military build-ups continue at unprecedented rates. Western Governments continue to finance ruthless regimes, loaning more than $100 billion. As foreign military capability is enhanced by our financing, 317 00:41:25.840 --> 00:41:32.440 We hear urgent requests from both Democrats and Republicans to increase our military expenditures 318 00:41:32.440 --> 00:41:39.080 massively. We never question our subsidies to our allies and friends through massive 319 00:41:39.080 --> 00:41:46.960 military and economic aid. We tear down Texas' Gulf Coast air bases and send AWACS aircraft 320 00:41:46.960 --> 00:41:54.280 to Europe and the Mideast, leaving our coastlines vulnerable. All of Japan's defense needs are 321 00:41:54.280 --> 00:42:00.660 are paid for by the American taxpayer and the savings are passed on to their car companies 322 00:42:00.660 --> 00:42:07.580 and other exporters. American car and steel industries then ask for more protectionism 323 00:42:07.580 --> 00:42:14.580 through quotas and tariffs. All this insanity, of course, is financed through massive taxation 324 00:42:14.580 --> 00:42:24.200 and inflation borne by our taxpayers. Without fiat money, these wild schemes would be impossible. 325 00:42:24.200 --> 00:42:29.480 And more inflation and more planning only make things worse, and we are now in the midst 326 00:42:29.480 --> 00:42:35.680 of compensating for the problems we have created with trade barriers, devaluations, floating 327 00:42:35.680 --> 00:42:41.720 exchange rates, bank bailouts and third world and foreign government bailouts. 328 00:42:41.720 --> 00:42:47.840 The only answer given to the deteriorating conditions is to either spend more on bombs 329 00:42:47.840 --> 00:42:52.640 or sign worthless treaties with untrustworthy governments. 330 00:42:52.640 --> 00:42:59.640 And yet, there is clearly another option. No one wants to consider seriously sound money 331 00:43:01.000 --> 00:43:07.680 and free trade as an alternative. Central banking and fiat money bring us the business 332 00:43:07.680 --> 00:43:14.680 cycle and unemployment. They also give us international crises and war. To achieve peace 333 00:43:15.480 --> 00:43:22.480 and prosperity, we must accept the ideas of the free market and honest money. 334 00:43:22.640 --> 00:43:25.640 Natural Rights 335 00:43:25.640 --> 00:43:43.640 Ludwig von Mises was the greatest economist of all time, but he never convinced me that it is metaphysical nonsense to link together the slippery and vague notion of liberty and the unchangeable absolute laws of cosmic order, 336 00:43:43.640 --> 00:43:57.640 Thus the fundamental idea of liberalism, that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, is unmasked as a fallacy. 337 00:43:57.640 --> 00:44:08.640 There is no room left in the framework of an experimental observation of natural phenomenon for such a concept of natural rights. 338 00:44:08.640 --> 00:44:10.640 Mises also wrote, 339 00:44:38.640 --> 00:44:53.640 It is obvious that no biological doctrine can invalidate what utilitarian philosophy says about the social utility of democratic government, private property, freedom and the equality under the law. 340 00:44:53.640 --> 00:45:14.180 Though Mises states that the idea of natural law is quite arbitrary, I might suggest that 341 00:45:14.180 --> 00:45:19.240 so are the interpretations of utility. 342 00:45:19.240 --> 00:45:43.240 is very useful to those in power. Only a concept of natural rights can condemn the perceived utility of interventionism. In an effort to refute those who cautioned about policy consequences, in the long run, Keynes relied upon utilitarianism by replying that in the long run we are all dead. 343 00:45:43.240 --> 00:45:56.240 Every argument I have ever heard on the House floor is presented as utilitarian, and for the pressure groups represented, the proposals certainly are utilitarian. 344 00:45:56.240 --> 00:46:06.240 These arguments are never based on the moral principles of people's natural right to run their own lives. 345 00:46:06.240 --> 00:46:13.240 Santa Claus wins the utilitarian argument until it's too late to do anything about it. 346 00:46:13.240 --> 00:46:34.240 The interventionist reliance on the appeal of Santa Claus, utilitarianism, and an ostensibly high-minded concern for the downtrodden can only be countered by a more truly utilitarian defense of the free market and the concept of natural rights, 347 00:46:34.240 --> 00:46:40.240 which allows the non-interventionist to take the true moral high ground. 348 00:46:40.240 --> 00:46:45.240 In the absence of a natural rights argument, a moral vacuum exists 349 00:46:45.240 --> 00:46:49.240 into which the socialists rush, winning every time. 350 00:46:49.240 --> 00:46:52.240 They have won throughout the 20th century, 351 00:46:52.240 --> 00:46:57.240 while the concept of God-given rights has been almost obliterated. 352 00:46:57.240 --> 00:47:04.240 Austerity for the benefit of the next generation won't get enough votes in a democratic political system. 353 00:47:04.240 --> 00:47:12.240 Combine it with a moral argument for natural rights and the chances of success are greatly enhanced. 354 00:47:12.240 --> 00:47:19.240 Mises' rejection of natural rights allowed him to be utilitarian on the conscription issue. 355 00:47:19.240 --> 00:47:29.240 The essential task of government is defense of the social system, not only against domestic gangsters, but also against external foes. 356 00:47:29.240 --> 00:47:40.240 He who in our age opposes armaments and conscription is, perhaps unbeknown to himself, and a better of those aiming at the enslavement of all. 357 00:47:40.240 --> 00:47:56.240 Conscription challenges the idea of the truly free society, but ironically an in-depth study of the draft reveals that it is not practical or efficient, but eminently dangerous. 358 00:47:56.240 --> 00:48:02.240 The utilitarian argument for conscription is an arbitrary argument. 359 00:48:02.240 --> 00:48:08.800 A natural rights philosophy is not arbitrary on the issue of the draft, which is especially 360 00:48:08.800 --> 00:48:15.720 dangerous in an age when economic interventionism has set the stage for war. Conscription under 361 00:48:15.720 --> 00:48:23.520 these conditions provides the actors. Yes, interventionism leads to militant nationalism 362 00:48:23.520 --> 00:48:31.080 and economic isolationism. The wars that usually follow foolish economic policy depend on a 363 00:48:31.080 --> 00:48:38.680 and the fiat monetary system for financing and on conscription for the participants. 364 00:48:38.680 --> 00:48:44.880 A truly defensive war by a free society must be fought with volunteers. 365 00:48:44.880 --> 00:48:51.080 Only by combining a free market economy based on a natural rights philosophy can we expect 366 00:48:51.080 --> 00:48:54.600 to minimize the likelihood of war. 367 00:48:54.600 --> 00:48:55.600 Summary 368 00:48:55.600 --> 00:49:08.600 Austrian Economics has provided me with intellectual ammunition to support my natural tendency to say no to all forms of government intervention. 369 00:49:08.600 --> 00:49:22.600 Mises provides an inspiration to stick to principle and to argue quietly and confidently in favor of the superiority of a decentralized, consumer-oriented market 370 00:49:22.600 --> 00:49:28.600 In contrast to a bureaucratic, centrally planned economy. 371 00:49:28.600 --> 00:49:34.600 Mises is clear about the responsibility we all have in establishing a free society. 372 00:49:34.600 --> 00:49:39.600 He concludes socialism with this advice. 373 00:49:39.600 --> 00:49:43.600 Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders. 374 00:49:43.600 --> 00:49:48.600 No one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. 375 00:49:48.600 --> 00:49:51.600 And no one can find a safe way out for himself. 376 00:49:51.600 --> 00:50:00.760 himself, if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interest, must 377 00:50:00.760 --> 00:50:08.440 thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle. None can stand aside with unconcern. 378 00:50:08.440 --> 00:50:15.780 The interests of everyone hang on the result. Whether he chooses or not, every man is drawn 379 00:50:15.780 --> 00:50:21.980 gone into the great historical struggle, the decisive battle into which our epoch has plunged 380 00:50:21.980 --> 00:50:31.300 us. And, in human action, he states, there is no means by which anyone can evade his 381 00:50:31.300 --> 00:50:37.900 personal responsibility. Whoever neglects to examine to the best of his abilities all 382 00:50:37.900 --> 00:50:44.700 the problems involved, voluntarily surrenders his birthright to a self-appointed elite of 383 00:50:44.700 --> 00:50:51.940 for Men. In such vital matters, blind reliance upon experts and uncritical acceptance of 384 00:50:51.940 --> 00:51:00.020 popular catchwords and prejudices is tantamount to the abandonment of self-determination and 385 00:51:00.020 --> 00:51:07.220 to yielding to other people's domination. As conditions are today, nothing can be more 386 00:51:07.220 --> 00:51:37.220 I am convinced, as was Mises, that the solutions to the crisis we face must be positive. Which is just one reason I am so pleased by the establishment of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. He stated in The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality that the anti-capitalist mentality is at stake. 387 00:51:37.220 --> 00:52:00.220 The anti-movement has no chance whatever to succeed and that what alone can prevent the civilized nations of Western Europe, America and Australia from being enslaved by the barbarism of Moscow is open and unrestricted support of laissez-faire capitalism. 388 00:52:00.220 --> 00:52:05.220 Without Austrian economics, I would not have had my political career. 389 00:52:05.220 --> 00:52:12.220 The strongest motivating force in my political activities is to live free, since I was born free. 390 00:52:12.220 --> 00:52:15.220 Liberty is my first goal. 391 00:52:15.220 --> 00:52:20.220 The free market is the only result that can be expected from a free society. 392 00:52:20.220 --> 00:52:25.220 I do not accept individual freedom because the market is efficient. 393 00:52:25.220 --> 00:52:33.220 Even if the free market were less efficient than central planning, I would still prefer my personal freedom to coercion. 394 00:52:33.220 --> 00:52:45.220 Fortunately, I don't need to make a choice. Austrian economics upholds the market's efficiency, and that reinforces my overwhelming desire and right to be free. 395 00:52:45.220 --> 00:53:02.220 If no adequate intellectual explanation existed as to the efficiency of the free market, no political activism of any sort would be possible for any pro-freedom person. Our position would only be a theoretical pipe dream. 396 00:53:02.220 --> 00:53:09.660 I see no conflict, however, between a utilitarian defense of the market economy and the argument 397 00:53:09.660 --> 00:53:17.500 for a free market as a consequence of a moral commitment to natural, God-given rights, for 398 00:53:17.500 --> 00:53:19.940 there is no conflict. 399 00:53:19.940 --> 00:53:25.900 The economist's approval of the market for purely utilitarian reasons actually becomes 400 00:53:25.900 --> 00:53:33.220 There is a more objective analysis, if not approached from a natural rights standpoint. 401 00:53:33.220 --> 00:53:39.520 But when combined with a natural rights philosophy, it is even more powerful. 402 00:53:39.520 --> 00:53:41.540 No choice must be made. 403 00:53:41.540 --> 00:53:46.880 The utilitarian argument does not exclude the belief that life and liberty originates 404 00:53:46.880 --> 00:53:48.660 with the creator. 405 00:53:48.660 --> 00:53:52.080 When they are added together, they become doubly important. 406 00:53:52.080 --> 00:53:58.140 When one argues for the free market on utilitarian grounds, one starts with particular actions 407 00:53:58.140 --> 00:54:00.240 by the individual. 408 00:54:00.240 --> 00:54:06.800 In starting with a natural rights argument, the a priori becomes the gift of life and 409 00:54:06.800 --> 00:54:11.220 liberty as natural or God-given. 410 00:54:11.220 --> 00:54:18.100 The utilitarians may be neutral or antagonistic regarding the origins of life and liberty, 411 00:54:18.100 --> 00:54:24.220 But this in no way weakens their explanation of the technical advantages of a free economic 412 00:54:24.220 --> 00:54:25.220 system. 413 00:54:25.220 --> 00:54:31.340 However, those who accept a natural rights philosophy have no choice whatsoever but to 414 00:54:31.340 --> 00:54:34.340 accept laissez-faire capitalism. 415 00:54:34.340 --> 00:54:40.100 Mises's utilitarian defense of the market opens political careers for those who believe 416 00:54:40.100 --> 00:54:45.940 in liberty, courage, and even dares one who truly believes in the system to present it 417 00:54:45.940 --> 00:55:15.060 Ludwig von Mises certainly provided sound economic and social theories. I hope that 418 00:55:15.060 --> 00:55:22.860 that my modest success in politics may encourage others to try it, and help prove Mises wrong, 419 00:55:22.860 --> 00:55:28.740 showing that a political career is open to men and women who do not identify themselves 420 00:55:28.740 --> 00:55:34.300 with the interest of a pressure group, but with the liberty of all.