Analysis of The Weekly Standard article, No Substitute for Virtue, by Benjamin Storey and Jenna Silber Storey by Kevyn Peak
(libertarian)
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Virtue means sometimes rejecting economic freedom. Honor means working for the State. Freedom is a means, not an end. The Cold War was not even about freedom.
Do you agree with these statements? Good. Otherwise, you are not a conservative. Or, at least, not a good one. This, along with a mild defense of John McCain, seems to be the point of a new essay in The Weekly Standard by Benjamin Storey and Jenna Silber Storey. It is a fascinating piece. It is also rich in slapdash reasoning.
Boil down the first two paragraphs and here is the false choice presented: if you limit your political patronage to those who consistently advocate economic freedom, you must reject individual virtue in favor of ideology. This is because it is "men who must govern men," and it is the character of the former that is "decisive for how the country is led." Therefore, a few (or a few dozen?) deviations from the principles of individual freedom should not matter much if the governors believe in virtue.
After a quick Kant v. Hamilton kerfuffle, the authors get around to mentioning "free markets" six times, but simple "freedom" not even once.* Since individual freedom subsumes freedom to trade, it is illuminating to substitute it where the authors are keen to specify "free markets":
"Conservatives need to defend [individual freedom] not as an ideology but as an aspect of policy that serves the purpose of allowing individual excellence to flourish. A defense of [individual freedom] as a means to a good society, rather than as an end in itself, has served us well in the past.
Quite aside from the likely assailability of this record of service, there seems to be some question-begging here. What is a worthwhile end? Only individual excellence? It should not be necessary to point out that freedom, for a great many, is an end in itself and inseparable from any "good society." Continuing...
"The struggle against communism, for example, was not only, or even primarily, about [individual freedom]. It was about human dignity and the worth of a political order that allows individuals to live decent and virtuous lives. [Individual freedom] is a part--but only a part--of that decent political order."
But how are dignity and virtue at odds with statism? Compelled dignity is dignity nonetheless. A corpse would not have to pull the sheet over its own face in order for dignity to be preserved. Besides, surely there were dignified and virtuous folk before the 1780's. Dignified slaves and virtuous peasants pre-date conservatism and liberalism both. Individual liberty is much newer and it is against this still gelling innovation which Soviet Communism struggled and Chinese "Communism" still acts out. Blue jeans and rock & roll have been called a lot of things, but "dignified" and "virtuous" are not common choices.
Sure, "men must govern men"--FDR, Nixon, Clinton, Ted Stevens...the lot of them! The trillion-dollar question is: govern how much? Excessive governing, often sanctified by moral authorities of the day, has proven to be far more noxious than run-of-the-mill weak virtue. Better a hungover neoliberal than a lucid authoritarian. This is where character is admittedly important, particularly in the current, no-holds-barred legal climate. As Ron Paul has stated, "we should have a strong president--strong enough to resist the temptation of taking power that a President shouldn't have." But, character alone does not make a President want to submit to the Constitution, avoid unnecessary wars, nor shrug off power generally. McCain is close enough to proof of that. And that, "my friends," is where ideology comes in handy, thank you very much.
* They do mention "freedom of enterprise."
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