Modernity is a capitalistic phenomenon. It is the result of free-market industrial competition based on the security of private property, unregimented personal enterprise, specialized competence engaged via voluntary contractual exchange and unprotected profit-and-loss capitalization and management. While the results of such a social paradigm are eagerly sought the world over, the methods involved are often misunderstood, misconstrued, misapplied and even banned by force of arms, which leads to chicanery, corruption, waste, and failure.
Modernity is not universally welcome among all the people of the Earth. Many believe that modernity has whetted man’s energy and goods appetite to the point where natural resources are seriously depleted and the environment is seriously degraded.[1] These two concerns combine to provoke worry about the climate in which we live. Whether or not these concerns have an authentic foundation in science, they have evoked emotional consequences that have inspired public policy, which has spawned legislation aimed at natural resource conservation, environmental protection, and climate change inhibition.[2] The implementation of this legislation has resulted in a degree of industrial regulation and regimentation that is tantamount to de-industrialization. Among other things, these policies have more than doubled the cost of obtaining electricity from the community grid in less than a decade during which time the grid has begun to deny service on random occasions.[3]
This post was published at Lew Rockwell on December 10, 2016.
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