Laissez-faire Quotes
March 4, 1933 was the date that Franklin Delano Roosevelt had assumed the Presidency from Herbert Hoover and used government to combat the Great Depression whereas Hoover would not take any of these steps as the conservative wing of his party and he regarded anything that government did was “creeping socialism”. Historically, it is useful to recall what steps Roosevelt took that were described as socialism. These include Social Security, Federal Deposit Insurance for bank accounts, aid to farmers, the Civilian Conservation Corps, Regulation of the stock market, regulation of banks and many other things that are key elements of modern capitalism which virtually every capitalistic nations has in one form or another. Long after Truman was out of office, the most conservative elements of the Republican Party have accused every Democratic President of “creeping socialism” when they were actually quite opposed to socialism. Even when their career before their presidency was full of criticisms of socialism and policies that are opposite, as in the case of President Obama, the President has been accused of being a socialist. However, it started with Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry S Truman.
Like many ideological political philosophers who developed a following, she tended to exaggerate many of her points and to ignore additional factors. While individual businessmen and politicians pursuing their self interests were certainly necessary for America’s great growth and success, they were not sufficient. Many of the founding fathers sacrificed their fortunes and in some cases their lives to gain American independence. And the sacrifice of millions was necessary in many conflicts were those who fought were rarely enlarging their own fortunes. And equally important factors of American success were the collective action of communities creating schools, roads, bridges, canals. The driver of the businessmen to move into critical areas was the government subsidizing the railroads, proving the telegraph useful, developing the national highway system and the Internet. Most of the great universities and research centers were created as government, charitable or religious institutions where personal profit was not a factor. It is that combination of private and public, self serving and communitarian drives, secular and religious that have created modern America. Many people in Rand’s ere did not credit the private, self serving contributions of many great men, and Rand led the movement to remind all of that critical factor. In the process of making her good point, she tended to ignore the other factors.
This quotation as such has not been found in Jefferson's writings, but it is entirely consistent with Jefferson's philosophy and practice
The mantra was not heard much after the collapse of the ‘smart’ markets in 2008 and the ‘dumb’ governments had to come to the rescue of the economy all over the industrialized world.
Most classic socialists would not agree, but Deng’s approach created the most economically successful socialist economy in history.
3rd Earl Russell of Kingston. Ironically he was regarded as a socialist by most people. His view of socialism however was what evolved as European Democratic Socialism and not the “dictatorship or the proletariat” type of Communist Socialism.
