The Austrian Dilemma: Erudition and Passion

What the Austrian School needs two things now more than ever: erudition and persuasion.

The erudition is more than taken care of. From Von Mises to Hayek to Rothbard, the Austrians have made their case, repudiation command-and-control centralization and championing the unseen and spontaneous order of free enterprise.

The persuasion element, however, leaves much to be desired. The insights of the Austrian School frighten many. Freedom demands trusting others to do the best with what is unseen. Men and women by nature are attuned to trusting what they can see, sense, discern. Believing in forces that cannot be seen puts proponents of Austrian economics at a real disadvantage. Patience is not a virtue for men and women who need a job, who need money right away. When British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher pushed free market and privatization reforms in tehr 1980's, her government nearly lost the majority. She nearly succumbed, until one miner's union broke away from the general strike, thus granting her government the upper hand. The wait was difficult, and senior members of her cabinet feared for their posts, but Thatcher's tenacity held her coalition through. Sadly, the steel resolve of this woman is very rare in statesmen today, who now more than ever pay attention to the polls and their paycheck as much as the needs of the people.

Libertarian and classical liberal teachings must persuade, and only that, or fear marring the very doctrines which they wish to impart. The ideology of centralization, the forces of collectivism and socialism have force on their side. Tyrannies are waged in the name of providing everyone everything that they want, and enticing procurement which leads many to sacrifice their immediate freedom for security, even if the promise is hollow and short-lived. Communism has no reservation about taking from others through coercion, not persuasion. Erudition means nothing if no one is listening, and no one is listening if the other side is holding a gun and had evinced no interest in hearing your side of the issue, so blindly have they become with misguided confidence in how the world should work.

Faith is the key element in market economies. A vision and a mission to sell what is not readily apparent or guaranteed would scare the most analytical of minds. From the mid-nineteenth century, including the prominence of Progressivism, to the modern reaction of the 1980's, the growth of the state has remained a given which many voters are not willing to give up. Only by pushing with consistent and cogent argument will free market reforms not only sell, but remain salient for the long term.