SPONTANEOUS GENERATION:

The Rule of Law and Freedom in Emerging Democracies: A Madisonian Perspective (James A. Dorn, August 2001, The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty)

Madison supported limited government not only because he thought it was just but because he recognized, as did Adam Smith, that limiting government to the defense of persons and property prevents corruption and lays the basis for the emergence of a spontaneous market order and wealth creation.

Madison favored free trade and opposed government intervention. He called himself a “friend to a very free system of commerce” and regarded as self-evident the notion “that commercial shackles are generally unjust, oppressive, and impolitic.” He recognized that “all are benefitted by exchange, and the less this exchange is cramped by Government, the greater are the proportions of benefit to each.”

In 1792 Madison wrote, “Liberty and order will never be perfectly safe, until a trespass on the constitutional provisions for either, shall be felt with the same keenness that resents an invasion of the dearest rights; until every citizen shall be an Argus to espy.”

Argus, of course, refers to a giant with 100 eyes who acts as a guardian—in Madison’s case, a guardian of our liberties. In a free society, citizens must be vigilant and be able “to espy”—that is, to see at a distance—and use reason to discern the long-run implications of alternative policies.

Unless people learn to judge policy from a constitutional or long-run viewpoint, and not just consider it in the postconstitutional setting of majority rule, they will lose their freedom. By taking a long-run view and exercising “right reason,” individuals are more likely to agree to constitutional limits that insulate economic life from politics and prevent “rent”-seeking behavior that redistributes, rather than creates, wealth. That is a point James M. Buchanan, founder of the Public Choice school of economics, has so eloquently stated.

Lessons for Emerging Democracies

There are several important lessons that emerging democracies can learn from Madison’s constitutional vision:

* For true democracy to prevail, government must be limited and must be just; the security of persons and property must take precedence over electoral politics.

* To prevent rent-seeking and corruption, economic freedom must prevail; people must accept a rule of law that treats people equally under the law and safeguards private property rights and freedom of contract.

* A spontaneous market-liberal order will arise to coordinate economic activity and create wealth, provided the government minimizes its role in the economy and lets people be free to choose.

* A free society cannot coexist with a redistributive state—there is no “Third Way”; people must be ever vigilant to ensure that majorities are prevented from violating the rights of minorities in the name of distributive justice.

Mr. Dorn misses the point of the Third Way: it is consistent with republican liberty precisely because it violates the "rights" of everyone, making providing for your own welfare obligatory. A modern society, especially a fragile new one, that doesn't provide at least this minimal finanmcioal security to its citizens isn't likely to be free for long.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 2, 2004 8:45 AM