Why Individualism is Best
Post #622
When a society is operating under collectivism, then some authoritarian ruler decides for you about how you should spend your time and energy for the good of the masses. The collectivism and the totalitarianism are made for each other. But, because each soul matters and grows strong by first making personal choices, collectivism is immoral.
This means that collectivism, because it prevents personal growth, is not good for humankind. By implication, this means that totalitarianism is immoral (not good for humankind).
Economic and political freedom are made for individualism instead. Compared to collectivism, which so often causes poverty and death, the track record for individualism is phenomenal.
The success (material superiority) of economic and political freedom in the material realm can be used, as an analogy, for the success (moral superiority) of individualism in the spiritual realm.
Why Centralization Fails
Economically, central planners will not ever be able to do as well as individuals making personal choices, because the individuals have so much more information about their personal circumstances. Before Keynes, Mises proved economic calculation to be impossible under socialism.
Imagine one your bushes outside of your house catches fire. Before the fire alarm is tripped, only you know of the fire. Central planners do not know if your house is about to be on fire, and even if they did, they could not do anything about it (besides notify the local firefighters).
So the planners do not have enough knowledge and resources to help you during your personal crisis, but you could point the garden hose at the fire and put it out yourself. That’s because you have unique knowledge about your personal circumstance.
Instead of putting out fires throughout the neighborhood, image just dealing with a problem of moles in people’s backyards:
File: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whac-A-Mole_Pier_45.jpg
Attribution: Willis Lam, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
In the game, Whac-A-Mole, a single, central authority or decision-maker oversees 5 different holes in the table — out of which a mole’s head may pop up. The game is hard because it is difficult for a single decision-maker to oversee 5 different things at the same time.
But if each person looked after their own backyard, more moles get whacked (proof-by-analogy that freedom is better than central decision-making).
Say Yes to Individualism, and No to the Great Reset
While certain philosophers have worked hard to keep collectivism respectable, their efforts have failed: collectivism is anti-freedom, anti-markets, anti-human, and anti-life.
Collectivism — depicted well by hippies singing ‘Kumbayah’ around a campfire — will continue to be initially attractive, and even intoxicating, to young minds.
Effortless communion with others is one of the fantasies of the young, so they’ll always remain at least somewhat susceptible to the propaganda of collectivist demogagues such as Marx, Lenin, Hitler, and Mao. But truth can help, if conveyed.
Individualism is best not only in the material realm where you are best positioned to know about the unique hardships that you go through (so that you are the single best responder), but it is also best in the spiritual realm, where personal choices cause personal growth.