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March 07, 2006
The Capitalist Ball- dancing at the edge of the future
Rome never looks where she treads.
Always her heavy hooves fall
On our stomachs, our hearts or our heads;
And Rome never heeds when we bawl.
Her sentries pass on-that is all,
And we gather behind them in hordes,
And plot to reconquer the Wall,
With only our tongues for our swords.
Rudyard Kipling- The Picts' song
I attended The Capitalist Ball in Brussels lately, and I agree with Paul Belien's article in the Brussels Journal that it has become one of the most important venues for liberals in Europe.
It was a joy to see that many more of the guests work with actively seeking contacts, unfortunately it has not always been the case.
I partially agree with Mr. Belien when he discusses the combination between economic liberty/social conservatism. No, not his opinion that we should add more social conservatism, both because I do not agree with social conservative ideas and because I think it would be a dangerous strategic mistake.
Mr. Belien is namely right about that we should focus more on moral values. The economic debate about the welfare state is dead, the welfare state won. Mind that socialism lost too; today's social democratic parties are far more accepting of free markets, private property and socio-economic differences than "non-socialist" parties were in the 70's.
But economic arguments cannot derail the welfare state. Economic arguments try to persuade the lower rungs of the administrative class, that stand much to loose from dismantling the welfare state. Hence the economic debate about taxation, competition, unemployment etc do not budge. Capitalism might be cool, but as you do not know what it contains you find it proper to use it for other purposes.
Therefore I think that in order to find new groups, that have vested interests in moving towards a more free society we need to look at other issues.
This might be a part of the solution that Belien also adresses. There is hardly any civil society and philantropy in Europe. Think tanks and political work cost money, and we cannot solely depend on US stakeholders crossing the pond. We very much need to for an open environment and outreach to the public in order to get funding.
There were certainly hopes of this happening at the Capitalist Ball, so there is good hope for changing strategy and making Europe freer.
Posted by Waldemar at March 7, 2006 07:20 PM