Neoliberalism and Guns.

Just read a squillion words about Hayek and neoliberalism. I’ll simplify using firearms. Once guns were the province of kings and governments for use in wars. In the UK at least society at large didn’t have them, being too expensive or restricted by law, moral values and common sense concluding they were harmful to social well-being. Hayek argued that this arbitrary restriction was unnecessary in that every individual would of his own volition regulate the marketplace in firearms. When morality held sway his ideas were laughed at but as pseudo economics gained prominence moral values, being not numerically quantifiable, could be dismissed as mere opinion. The marketplace, as the product of all minds, would more perfectly reflect human activity and aspirations than any government. Thatcher and other political leaders commenced deregulation. The market place in firearms grew as people took advantage of their newfound freedom, the economy prospered and explosives manufacturers made healthy profits. People wishing to better themselves exchanged their handguns for automatic weapons and grenades and the wealthy for tanks and rocket launchers etc. Manufacturers promoted their use to settle neighbourly disputes and resolve differences of opinion. Comparethemarket.com showed tables of firepower, accuracy and speed. This economic boom created a new wealthy set that was armed to the teeth and unassailable. Even the government couldn’t control them. The poor soon found guns didn’t solve anything and reverted to moral values but were dismissed as irrelevant losers, though they still secretly hankered for a guided missile of their own. There ensued a great divide in wealth, firepower and morality.

Hayek’s grand plan had a basic fault. He failed to account for a variance in integrity. Some would approach the marketplace honourably and some with various amounts of self-interest and duplicity. The latter would gain sway due to their lack of honesty and distort the market towards the baser traits of human nature in effect forming a negative feedback loop. Good will would equate to failure. Given time an unregulated marketplace will inevitably support and empower the most morally corrupt. It will corrode human interactions and thus harm the common good. Who knows what will happen when I get my AK47 off ebay.