printOn my mind is another of Glenn Beck’s frequently made errors. Whenever Beck sends out a free copy of his newsletter, he declares “provocatively” that “Glenn has succumbed to socialism.” Avail yourself of the product of Glenn’s momentary insanity, he will exhort (referring to himself in the third person), and sign up for this free, socialistic service. This is a good opportunity to clarify what socialism really is, for unless you understand that there can be no socialism without state coercion, why, then, you comprehend very little about the dread socialism—as little as conservatives and Republicans do.
Indeed too many people conflate the voluntary provision of a free service with socialism. Voluntary cooperation, even absent remuneration, is never socialism. Glenn Beck seems to think that anything free is socialism. Not so. A Kibbutz—Israeli communal living—is a voluntary socialistic arrangement, which, if you prize freedom, is as good as any arrangement people want to enter that is coercion free. Kibbutzim are often economically viable arrangements. Perhaps this is because people are there by choice and by belief.
Thus, an open source software project, worked on voluntarily by scores of developers across the globe, is not socialism. Although volumes have been written on the pros and cons of open source versus proprietary software, the proof is in the pudding: Although free, open source is often as good as software that costs serious money.
I do not want to veer into the copyright debate. However, I still stand by my writing on the topic. “KAZAA,” for example, was engaged in voluntary exchange; “THE COPYRIGHT CARTEL” was the fascistic attempt to infringe on this voluntary exchange—and on tangible property not its own. But let’s leave this debate right now.
“Glenn Beck seems to think that anything free is socialism.”
Excellent observation and correction. The State hasn’t entirely outlawed charity, yet!! But the State does a pretty good job these days of defining it for us.
St. Ayn, in her zealous denunciation of compulsory altruism (which is theft at gunpoint), also wound up (mistakenly) skewering voluntary altruism. Ironically, the one tax “loophole” I like is the charity one and I would advocate that one take $2 deduction for every $3 donated to an “emergency aid” charity like the Salvation Army to which spends N% of its revenues on food/shelter/clothing/medicine for the needy. Private charities can deliver to the blind, sick, demented, poor… far better than the welfare state – and those who object to paying taxes for Hamid Karzai, agribusiness subsidies… – can instead provide chowder and flu shots to the poor. As an anti-Maoist, I’d say “let a 100 soup kitchens bloom”. There is enough wealth and voluntary charitable people in America to support the truly needy WITHOUT a welfare state and its assorted tax obscenities. Naturally, Obama, ever the statist, proposes eliminating voluntary altruism in favor of more compulsory altruism – e.g. trillions of counterfeit Bernanke Bucks in the name of preventing “starvation” etc.
I completely agree with you that the copyright/patent laws have been abused into tools of corrupt statist monopolists with no respect for privacy or private property.
A good idea, leave the copyright debate for another time. After I saw what a movie company did with Robert Heinlein’s classic, “Starship Troopers” I don’t think I ever want to see a movie again.
Mises Economics Blog (Left side of page) has an article (about halfway down their page) that I think many readers might find enjoyable. Titled “Rothbardianism In Iraq?” which discusses a form of Libertarian (Not Socialist) system even in a Muslim area.