Liberalism

2. Modern liberal conceptualization of government's proper role is as an impartial protector of rights "and to serve as a means by which citizens can collectively pursue goals which they cannot attain as individuals" (Clark 96). These goals, however, must also be impartial: not self-interested but rather aimed at the public interest. In this view, only the government has the reach and power to realize (= make real) the goals of public interest, largely because unfettered market forces, or market "failures" (119), mandate a government role in mediating their effects for the public good. Clark cites five failures: Lack of perfect competition implies maldistribution of economic and social power as a consequence of monopolistic or oligopolistic industrial organization (119-20). Exernalities refer to market behavior that either excludes the public from that benefit of such behavior or creates a hazard to the public on account of the behavior. Only government can intervene to exploit the benefits of that market behavior for the public good or protect the public from its hazards. Instability is a consequence of boom-and-bust cycles; government monetary policy can "promote a more efficient allocation of resources" (121). Inequity means maldistribution of wealth via unfettered markets that maximize efficiency and wealth concentration. Clark cites taxation as a method for equalizing concentration of wealth. For example, luxury items such as yachts, which only the wealthy can buy, are s

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asing direct governmental controls, in the form of nationalization of such basic industries as energy and communications, and more government control over investment decisions for economic growth. The classical liberal view that government's only meaningful role is to enforce law and order and protect individual and property rights is antithetical to the modern liberal view that government should intervene as marketplace referee or activist. Indeed, the fact that modern liberal theory degenerated into competition for government favor demonstrates two things: first, that the classical liberal theory that the marketplace perforce is a zero-sum structure, and second, that government intervention in markets actually fosters such market failures as instability (106-7). In the classical liberal view, government intervention leads to unintended consequences and to the manipulation of public policy by competitive private interests. For that reason, the actual role of government should be to limit its size and reach by constitutional means. Classical liberal theorists favor configuring government's relationship to the marketplace according to public choice theory (107), wherein the zero-sum structure is a given of the political environmen

Category: Philosophy - L