The back story of laissez-faire begins in the 17th Century. Why do I want to re-tell a story that is so old? And, does it apply today?
The answer to the first question is a quote from George Santayana who once wrote: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” The answer to the second question is most emphatically, yes. Yes, because human nature has not changed in those 340 years and there are individuals (always with the best of intentions) who want to meddle in the everyday affairs of others, especially economic affairs. This meddling continues despite the wrongheadedness of almost all the ideas and the demonstrated evidence that this wrongheadedness always fails.
The Back Story Of Laissez-Faire
Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the French Controller-General of Finances, met with a group of French businessmen in 1681. Monsieur Colbert asked these businessmen how “the France state could be of service to the merchants and promote their commerce.” The leader of the group, Monsieur LeGendre, responded with the simple phrase: “Laissez-nous faire.” This phrase translates into English as “Leave it to us” or “Let us do it.” In words that Americans can understand, it translates to “Leave us alone.”
The original response by M. LeGendre was later shortened by Rene de Voyer (Marquis d’Argenson), Vincent de Gournay, a French Physiocrat, and Francois Quenay, in their respective writings, to just laissez-faire which means “let go” or “let do.” Monsieur de Voyer also wrote in 1736 that “Let go … should be the motto of all public power….” How prescient he was.
Laissez-Faire In The 20th Century
Laissez-faire came to represent the free-market economic system in the 20th Century. As a reference point, the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines laissez-faire as “a doctrine opposing government interference in economic affairs beyond the minimum for the maintenance of peace and property rights.” In my opinion, that definition is most reasonable and most efficacious, given the many egregious mistakes made by the State in economic affairs since the end of World War I. That record is abysmal.
Socialism Is Rearing Its Ugly Head In the 21st Century
Socialism is once again becoming the “solution du jour” in the 21st Century despite its failures since the French Revolution in 1789 and the French Revolution in 1848. The wisdom of the French physiocrats and British classical economists in the 18th and 19th Centuries has all been ignored despite the real successes of the free market system.
My Laissez-Faire
I am all for laissez-faire and my translation is simply “leave us (the people) alone.” I believe that Thomas Paine was correct when he wrote, “…government even in its best state is a necessary evil.” The State is necessary but only to protect life, liberty, and private property. Beyond that, it soon becomes the “impossible monster of control and centralized power.”
Links
External: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laissez-faire
Internal: https://whitebeardwisdom.com/