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CHAPTER

6

Why Conservatives Should Care About Income Immobility

NOT ALL REPUBLICANS ARE CONSERVATIVES. AND SOME Democrats are conservatives. What makes one a conservative is the belief that, in the realm of public policy, there are institutions interposed between the individual and the state that matter. A libertarian who believed that only individuals count, and that their rights must be respected whatever harm they impose on society, would not be a conservative. Neither is the liberal who is suspicious of Edmund Burke’s “little platoons” of families, churches, and social groups that do things which the liberal thinks the state should do, and often by imposing what he sees as illiberal values.

Conservatives see things differently. Like Alexis de Tocqueville, they will celebrate the fact that Americans are the world’s greatest joiners. We’ll join churches, the Rotary, professional organizations, much more than people in other countries.

Why We Need Intermediate Organizations

Unless suppressed by the state, intermediate organizations and clubs will arise spontaneously, for they serve four basic needs. First, they permit people to unite around projects that voluntary groups can perform more efficiently than the state. Think here of the Red Cross, civil liberties associations, or simply the neighborhood association that picks up litter on the street, groups that do things the government can’t or won’t do. Such groups serve as focal points for individuals who wish to perform a task in common, and who otherwise might free ride and let the other fellow do it.

Second, by doing what the state might otherwise have to do, intermediate organizations shrink the size of the state and in this way preserve political liberty. Societies with weak civic associations find it difficult to resist the intrusion of state power, and this helps explain the different paths of Russia and Poland, post-communism. In 1721 Peter the Great had subjected the Russian Orthodox Church to government control, and when they came to power the Soviets simply continued the policy of suppressing rival social groups. On the fall of communism, there weren’t any subsidiary organizations around, and that made Vladimir Putin possible. By contrast, the Catholic Church remained a vibrant, independent force in Communist Poland, and today that country is much more democratic than Russia.

Third, social groups connect people to each other and satisfy the desire for solidarity, which is one of the deepest of human desires. We need other people to flourish. We need their friendship, their understanding, their love. After the 9-11 tragedy we took comfort from sharing our grief, and the sense of union with others helped ease the pain. We are strengthened, too, when bound to others, which was the point of The Gift Outright, the poem that Robert Frost recited from memory at the inauguration of President Kennedy.

Something we were withholding made us weak

Until we found out that it was ourselves

We were withholding from our land of living,

And forthwith found salvation in surrender.

The land was ours before we were the land’s, explained Frost. We owned it, nothing more. But then we came to belong to it, and this defined us as Americans. We belonged to it, even as it belonged to us, and by giving of ourselves were made stronger.

Lastly, intermediate groups promote trust, as people learn to rely on each other through joint participation in a group, and this is crucially important in fostering economic growth. I am wealthier when I live in a society composed of honest, reliable people. Because I can trust them, I find it easier to reach agreements with them. I can also count on them to perform the kinds of promises that courts imperfectly enforce, such as doing a workman-like paint job; or promises that are uncertain and hard to measure, such as taking care of my child; or promises that the promisor opportunistically tries to renegotiate when he has a threat advantage down the road. Given the less than perfect reliability of the judicial system, this includes many of the promises made in America today.