THE PLACE OF ECONOMICS FOR CONSERVATIVES: Navigating Economic Principles in Conservative Philosophy (2024)

By EDIE ADAMS

"The Place of Economics for Conservatives" offers a compelling exploration of the intersection between conservative ideology and economic principles, providing readers with a comprehensive understanding of how economic thought shapes conservative perspectives on governance, society, and individual liberty. From free-market capitalism to fiscal r

• Language: English
• Publisher: EDIE ADAMS
• Release date: Apr 14, 2024
• ISBN: 9783689440879

EDIE ADAMS

Edie Adams is an economist and political philosopher with a focus on conservative economic principles. With extensive research in distributism and classical liberalism, Adams brings a unique perspective to the intersection of economics and philosophy.

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Edie Adams

The Place of Economics for Conservatives

Copyright © 2024 by Edie Adams

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

Edie Adams asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

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Contents

1. Part 1

Introduction

2. The Servile State: Hilaire Belloc

Belloc, the Man

What Exactly Is Economics? What Exactly Is Distributism?

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), It’s a Miserable Life (2008)

Slavery and the Servile State

Capitalism and Socialism According to Belloc

Soft Despotism, Crisis Socialism, and the Welfare State

3. The Road to Serfdom: Friedrich August von Hayek

How to Avoid Misunderstanding Hayek: A Guide

Hayek, the Individual

Humility: The Key to Hayek

The Road to Serfdom Is Paved with Good Intentions

The Case for Economic Freedom and Competition

Liberalism, Scientism, and the Utopian Urge

4. Part 2

The Conservative Story, and Conservative Stories

5. The Tempest: William Shakespeare

Gulielmus filius Johannes Shakspere

Why Choose The Tempest?

The Anti-Utopian Insight of Shakespeare

Magic, Political Power, and Technology

God and Shakespeare

6. Sense and Sensibility: Jane Austen

Jane Austen: A Traditional Life

Time to Choose a Film

The Ethical Realms Explored in Sense and Sensibility

Elinor and Marianne Exploration

The Significance of Miss Austen

7. The Lord of the Rings: J. R. R. Tolkien

I am, indeed, a hobbit.

The Key to The Lord of the Rings

Concerning Fairy Tales

The Shire: A Life Valued Enough to Defend with Death

The Unsung Hero

Men of Courage and Kings of Splendor

One Ring to govern them all…

8. The Jerusalem Bible Who do men say that I am?

Why Choose This Translation?

The Bible as Narrative

Is the Bible a Mythical Tale?

The Conflict Between Liberalism and the Biblical Narrative

Conservative Wisdom and Biblical Wisdom

9. Atlas Shrugged: Ayn Rand

Rand’s Opposition to Conservatism

Alissa Rosenbaum, Alias, Ayn Rand

The Main Characters

The Basic Plot

Rand’s Important Insights

10. Conclusion

1

Part 1

Introduction

Some conservatives unfortunately tend to oversimplify conservatism by reducing it solely to economic considerations, suggesting that being conservative is merely about preserving free economic markets. It is crucial for them to recognize that such a perspective mirrors Marx’s reduction of human glory to homo economicus. According to Marx, every facet of human nature, encompassing morality, art, philosophy, religion, and political life, can be distilled down to a society’s economic modes of production. This narrow outlook on humanity is insufficient, and there is no reason to endorse this Marxist principle.

Conservatism, in its true essence, must safeguard the entirety of human existence. Therefore, our approach to economics is a result of thorough contemplation on broader conservative principles. While we acknowledge our economic nature, we must also recognize ourselves as rational, moral, political, and religious beings. It is this intricate complexity of our humanity that conservatism rightfully seeks to preserve. Aristotle acknowledged that humans are economic animals, but he also noted the same about moles, mice, ants, bees, and even octopi. Merely engaging in labor to build shelter and secure food does not uniquely define us as humans. Similarly, our political nature is shared with various other animals living a common, integrated life, as Aristotle mentioned regarding bees, wasps, ants, and cranes.

What truly sets us apart as human beings are our rational, moral, and religious capacities. These aspects distinguish us and dictate how we navigate our economic and political lives. For conservatives, this implies that the economic and political dimensions of our existence should be subservient to the rational, moral, and religious facets of our being.

2

The Servile State: Hilaire Belloc

I am optimistic about the possibility of faith reclaiming its close and guiding role in the heart of Europe. Likewise, I anticipate that the decline into our primal paganism, which is essentially a trend toward a submissive societal structure, will eventually be arrested and reversed.

NOW, TURNING OUR ATTENTION TO ECONOMICS, WE HAVE SELECTED TWO literary works: Hilaire Belloc’s The Servile State and Friedrich von Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom. As suggested by their titles, these works serve as insightful alarms, echoing Tocqueville’s concerns about the emergence of a subtle despotism, where citizens willingly submit to centralized authority in exchange for comfort and security.

To recap, Tocqueville observed in Americans an intense passion for material well-being, where the relentless pursuit of satisfying basic needs and ensuring life’s small comforts occupies the collective mindset. Given America’s economic fluidity, with individuals not confined to specific economic classes, a profound anxiety arises. This anxiety stems from envy of those above us and an ongoing fear of losing what we currently possess.

From this mix of anxiety, envy, and fear emerges a strong desire for stability that allows the fulfillment of the passion for material well-being. This desire, however, paves the way for the insidious encroachment of soft despotism through a powerful central government that promises to alleviate all anxieties related to physical gratification and security. The preoccupation with material comfort leads society down a path to serfdom, willingly embracing a state of servitude in exchange for security and comfort, even at the cost of liberty.

Ironically, while a free market generates material wealth, the pursuit of physical gratification funded by this wealth may breed an intemperate population jeopardizing the very virtues of the free market, moral liberty, and self-reliance. Intemperance, representing a vice where individuals are wholly enslaved to material pleasures, poses a threat to liberty. Placing our happiness solely in worldly physical gratifications and security leads to the surrender of moral liberty to a servile state promising to fulfill all earthly desires. It’s noteworthy that the servile state is consistently secular, and modern liberalism tends to consolidate power, exclude religion, and reduce individuals to pleasure-driven entities