Now is the time in
the history of this experience that we call America when we, as Americans,
should debate the role and value of government and the role and value of the
private marketplace which is missing in our contemporary politics. Before the debate can have real
meaning, one would have to revisit the beginning with the desires of the
Framers of the Constitution.
The Preamble to the
Constitution has no force in law; instead, it establishes the “Why” of the
Constitution. Why is this document
in existence? It reflects the
desires of the Framers to improve on the government to be “more perfect.”
…..We the people of the United States, in Order
to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility,
provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the
Blessing of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish
this Constitution for the United States of America.
Part of the
Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776):
…..We hold these truths to be
self-evidence, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable Rights, the among these are Life, Liberty and
the pursuit of Happiness.
Of course this did
not include African Americans or women until later when Amendments were added.
So why are we moving
toward a society in this great America experience in which everything is up for
sale? Before the financial crisis
of 2008, there was an era of triumphalism that started in early 1980, when
former President Ronald Reagan and Britain’s Margaret Thatcher proclaimed their
conviction that markets, not government, held the key to prosperity and
freedom. This notion of markets
idealism continued with former President Bill Clinton and Tony Blair who
consolidated the faith that markets are the primary means for achieving the
public good.
Today, that faith is
in doubt. The era of market
triumphalism has come to an end.
There should be a moral limit on markets if we are to achieve a balance
in the public and private sectors in our society. The reach of markets, and market-oriented thinking, into
non-market norms is one of the most significant developments of our time. For example, consider the proliferation
of for-profit hospitals, schools, prisons and the outsourcing of war to private
military contractors such as the ones used in Iraq and Afghanistan. These uses of markets to allocate
health, education, public safety, national security, criminal justice,
environmental protection, recreation, procreation, and other social goods was
not as prevalent thirty years ago.
Today, the logic of
buying and selling in the public and private domain no longer applies to
material goods alone but increasingly governs the whole of our lives. If the experience called America is to become
a more “perfect Union,” we must debate the limits of free markets.
