In this Freeman article, Don Boudreaux reflects on the relative optimism/pessimism of those on opposing political ideologies:
"Why are optimists about the state of the world disproportionately represented by classical liberals, libertarians, and free- market conservatives, while pessimists about the state of the world are disproportionately represented by statists?
Why do left-leaning media such as the New York Times and CNN devote so much ink and airtime alleging that middle-class Americans have made little or no economic progress over the past 35 years and that the planet continues to spiral into imminent catastrophe?"
The column is well worth the read, and Boudreaux really nails it in his conclusion:
"I believe that I now understand why opponents of liberty constantly bemoan the current state of the world. Quite simply, problem-mongering is the surest path to power. No matter how good things are, we humans can always imagine them being even better. No matter how clearly the data show progress, data can be cherry-picked and interpreted to make matters appear grim.
And no matter how much freedom government has stripped from us, as long as some economic freedoms remain, those on the left will see such freedoms as the source not only of real imperfections, but also of failures to attain what can be achieved only in the fantasies of those with ample faith in the power of the state.
Friends of liberty are under no delusions that even maximum liberty governed by the best-possible rule of law will create heaven on earth. Opponents of liberty, in contrast, are convinced that the impossible becomes possible by giving the state more resources and power. And as long as there are still more resources and power for the state to acquire, the real world’s inability to live up to our fondest imaginations will be described by those on the left as “failure” and serve as an excuse for further limitations on liberty."
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