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| 24158 | Liberalism wants separate powers, press freedom, independence and rule of law, and rights |
| Full Idea: European liberal democracy is battling for the separation of powers, freedom of the press, rule of law, an independent judiciary, respect for human rights, and a rules-based international order. | |||
| From: Will Hutton (This Time No Mistakes [2024], 1) | |||
| A reaction: A useful summary of liberal institutions, sought by the European Union, and opposed by British right-wing Brexiteers. 'Freedom' of the press needs a bit of thought. |
| 24157 | Societies should celebrate individual agency, but not mere self-interest |
| Full Idea: All societies should celebrate individual agency as an essential freedom, but agency is different from placing individual self-interest at the centre of our moral universe. | |||
| From: Will Hutton (This Time No Mistakes [2024], 1) | |||
| A reaction: He likes the word 'agency' in politics. Saying that freedom needs agency sounds tautological, but I presume we can be free to be lethargic, whereas what he celebrates is active initiative. Sensible self-interest is also social. |
| 24159 | Western civilization depends on a fully free market, private property, and free speech |
| Full Idea: Neo-liberals like Hayek agreed that the cornerstones of Western civilization were the pluralism of the free market, the primacy of private property rights, and freedom of speech. | |||
| From: Will Hutton (This Time No Mistakes [2024], 2) | |||
| A reaction: This has gradually turned into freedom of exploitation, massive inequality of property, and the claimed right to articulate hatred. Still, I'm sure they meant well. |
| 24155 | Capitalism has boom and bust, inequality of power and wealth, and a love of monopoly |
| Full Idea: Capitalism is neither stable nor fair; it has exuberant booms and terrible busts; it has no innate propensity to moderation; it causes inequality and gross imbalances of power and wealth; it seeks profit in the soft option of monopoly. | |||
| From: Will Hutton (This Time No Mistakes [2024], 1) | |||
| A reaction: A lifetime of insight summed up in an elegant sentence. Roughly speaking, capitalism is economic anarchy. |
| 24156 | Capitalism is the best system for innovation, opportunity and better living standards |
| Full Idea: Capitalism's excuse is its vibrancy, its ability to innovate, to offer individuals agency and the chance to prosper, and in doing to so sponsor growth and rising living standards. By these criteria no system has yet surpassed it. | |||
| From: Will Hutton (This Time No Mistakes [2024], 1) | |||
| A reaction: With Idea 24155, I can't imagine a better summary of the value of capitalism. This idea summarises neatly why the destruction of capitalism strikes me as a rash ambition, apart from wondering what would replace it. There is also an ecological dimension. |