Free Market Flaw: Democracy Cannot Exist

Among the many flaws in free market economic theory is the necessity that it remain pure, which will not happen if people get to vote. Perhaps there can be things that look like elections, but they must be rigged such that the outcome always favors retaining pure capitalism.

Some of the people I have debated on the topic admit that. However, most say that is not true. They offer up preposterous scenarios like making socialism unconstitutional and people will vote for the free market if they understood its benefits. So, somewhere between using democracy to make democracy illegal, and getting most of the people to understand they do not want to vote for their best interests, is, apparently, the answer to how democracy can exist in a free market economy.

Amending the Constitution is not an easy task. Something as popular as amending it so that women are equal to men could not meet the threshold. The latest talk of amending it is to state that corporations are not people. It is a simple concept that seems obvious, but, if it is to pass, it will take years to garner enough support to become an amendment. If things like "women and men shall be treated equally" and "corporations are not people" have difficulty getting sufficient support, imagine how unlikely it is for "no law defying Free Market Economic Theory can exist even if it has unanimous support of voters" to pass.

The point is, I don’t think supporters of a free market can rely on a Constitutional amendment to get it implemented. Of course, that still leaves voter education as an alternative.

Unlike the amendment process which requires two-thirds of the House, two-thirds of the Senate, and ratification by three-fourths of state legislatures, education would only require a smidgen over fifty percent of voters to agree. Plus, the percentage continues to decline when more people vote. If one hundred people vote, fifty one need be educated. If one thousand people vote, only five hundred one need be educated. If a million people vote, a mere five hundred thousand one need to be educated.

An example of how this might work is that we presume we have achieved a totally free market, and some saps come along and want to ruin it with something like a public library or cross walks, and they gather enough signatures from ill-informed people to get their measure on the ballot. The market could still remain free provided just slightly more than half the people are educated sufficiently to know these things will ruin the economy!

I apologize if I sound a bit cynical. I sincerely tried to hide it in order to present the best case scenario on how a totally free market and democracy could co-exist. I just don’t think they can.

I think it would require a totalitarian dictatorship for it to continue past the first election.