18. Commerce

A. Trade within nations and between nations has always served to bring people closer together, to reduce conflict and even prevent war. Robust commerce creates wealth and increases the standard of living for all citizens. One of the primary roles of government is to help facilitate the free flow of goods and services so that citizens can unleash and maximize their ability to engage in commerce. Government should not create barriers to entry into commerce, and should regulate commerce to the extent necessary to prevent excessive harm, for example by preventing monopolies or the import and export of dangerous items. Duties and tariffs should also be kept to a minimum, allowing dynamic international trade where each country can offer goods and services as it sees fit, thereby creating a broader marketplace governed by the law of supply and demand. Individual entrepreneurs and corporate entrepreneurs are the creative spark that makes economic growth possible, with their willingness to take on greater economic risks, drive innovation forward, create jobs, and increase wealth for others.

B. Healthy commerce exists in a society in which every worker enjoys a living wage and where protecting workers’ rights is front and center in the government’s labor policy. A well-regulated marketplace ensures buyers are not taken advantage of, products are safe, and commercial advertising is honest. A country should build up its manufacturing base and protect its local industries from foreign companies who have an unfair advantage. Economic policies should be aimed at creating the largest possible middle class, with relatively few who are either rich or poor. When the desire for profit is the main driving force behind commerce, the interests of ordinary people are poorly served. Therefore, public policy should ensure that the public good wins out against the natural human tendency for greed.

19. Crime

A. In any society where there is poverty, inequality, and lack of opportunity, one finds that crime is prevalent. Most criminals don’t feel called to a life of crime, and most are not bad people. A difficult life can lead a person to make poor choices, including breaking the law. Once in prison, a petty criminal is exposed to more hardened criminals, and once out of prison facing the same lack of opportunity, the petty criminal is more likely to persist in a life of crime—sometimes more serious crime. While we must lock up dangerous criminals for extended periods, most criminals can be rehabilitated if we devote adequate resources to their rehabilitation. Creating more and more prisons is not the solution. Rather, we must invest more in our most underprivileged neighborhoods and in creating more job opportunities for young people. Wishing to lock up criminals and ‘throw away the key’ is not a public policy; it is an admission of society’s failure.

B. Crime of all sorts has a pervasive debilitating effect on society. The few who are criminally minded make the lives of the many who are law-abiding much less pleasant and secure. Most criminals lack morals, are selfish, lazy, and predatory. Because criminals cost society countless billions of dollars each year, society should invest much more in the fight against crime. Crime should not pay, which means that punishments must be harsh enough to deter crime. Repeat criminals must be locked up for extended periods of time. If prisons get too crowded, we should build more of them. While attempts to rehabilitate criminals in prison are sometimes worthwhile, limited resources should largely be directed to our children, our elderly, and to others who have not chosen to embark on a life of crime. We ought to invest in prisoners by teaching them the importance of being productive—for example, by having them work for some of their prison benefits.

20. International Relations and the UN

A. Over the course of history humanity has been organizing itself into progressively larger group-units, first with extended families, then tribes, then states, then federations. The movement of history is clearly in the direction of more-encompassing units. It is with this understanding that we should view the roles played by the United Nations and other multi-national bodies such as the European Union. It seems quite inevitable and desirable that a ‘one world government’ would be established sometime this century or the next one to help all of us solve problems that are greater than any one nation can tackle—global warming, global terrorism, global epidemics, etc. International law is the glue that keeps all nation states operating under the same ground rules. The International Criminal Court, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and other such global bodies should be entrusted with keeping all nations in check to ensure each does not harm the common good.

B. International organizations like NATO and the OECD are examples of close cooperation between friendly nations who share similar values, even though those nations also have distinct differences. As important as the United Nations may be, it has a decidedly spotty record of promoting, peace, security, prosperity, and cooperation, largely because many of its member states do not share common values. The UN does a better job of promoting the preservation of world historical sites than it does liberating people from tyranny and oppression. Countries who seek to stop great evil in the world should try to work through the UN framework, if possible, but until all influential member states become free democracies, the UN should not be regarded as having the final say on what is good and moral in global affairs. All free democracies, with the US at the helm, should seek in the meantime to promote the values of liberty and democracy all over the world.