A Long Time Coming
Even after Communism fell, there are people who still believe in it. China and North Korea still harm their people and countries by following Communism’s ideas (to varying degrees). Stupid ideas have a long term influence, even if all evidence shows that they are wrong. There are even people who believe in the divine right of kings, and Rick Santorum seems to hold ideas that are plain strange.
Why Are Bad Ideas Kept Alive?
You’d think that bad ideas would just whittle away and die. They don’t. The Communist Party in China and North Korea need to keep it going to personally enrich the Party and leaders (they need to keep the money flowing to their bank accounts in off shore accounts), and of course fear that the people let free will provide a rough or judicial justice.
Private Property Is Bad?
There seems to be a strange idea gaining broad support that private property is a bad thing. More precisely, private ownership of fishing quotas is a bad thing. Countries like Denmark, Norway and Iceland who have done it (and seen their fish stocks and fishermen prosper) are meant to be wrong to do it.
It Takes A Convert to Lead the Change
The strange thing is that when a former greek revolutionary communist says that private property rights for fisheries is a good thing, conservative politicians and industry leaders say ‘no’.
The irony of the UK Conservative government acting against property rights is bizzaire, and can only be explained by the idea that the conservative government are in fact fans of marxist dogma or being forced to follow instructions from a scottish nationalist government (whose idea of economic freedom seems to be something from the 1970s), or perhaps both.
Reason
Rational debate does not happen by accident. It takes people to step up to confront absurdity. Change will happen (the Communist Party in China and North Korea will fail, but it will take time). The Evil Empire collapsed. Its demise was unexpected and swift.
Private property in fisheries will flourish. It won’t flourish in europe. Some will embrace reason and adopt it and see their fisheries flourish.
Conservative forces in government and industry will seek to block reform. Their efforts will fail. They’ll extract a heavy price by blocking change but they will fail. They would fail quicker if people stood up, just like brave men and women stood up to oppose Communism in the Soviet dictatorship, but freedom will overcome.