Eugenics: Progressivism’s Ultimate Social Engineering

Economics Political Theory
1

The more I read from the Freeman about the Gilded Age and the “reformers”, the more I get sick to the stomach. Well worth the read:

http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/eugenics-progressivism%E2%80%99s-ultimate-social-engineering/

Specially interesting (at the end):

“This history can be read as the American version of what happened earlier in England. David Levy has shown that economics became known as the “dismal science” because classical-liberal economists (such as J. S. Mill) favored racial equality in a free labor market. Reactionary, elitist British Romantics such as Thomas Carlyle and John Ruskin argued that the free market, with its underlying assumption of equality, would eliminate racial hierarchies and bring a “dismal” future of racial mixing. It was the classical-liberal economists who were providing the intellectual support for that future.”

What lies is the government spoon-feeding us?

Of course, I’d like to double-check the eugenics claims against Debs, for example, but this is quite shocking.

2

One of the comments:

Tommy Douglas, the beloved founder of government monopoly healthcare in Canada, wrote his master thesis on Eugenics and the need for sterilization.

The eugenic laws on the books in Alberta and BC weren’t repealed until the 1970′s

Support for the claim:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Douglas#M.A._thesis_on_eugenics

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The dismal science.

4

I read this in the comments:

“I find it odd, if not suspicious, that the single individual left off of this list is the man who termed the phrase, “Social Darwinism”. The reason I find it suspicious is because that man is the “libertarian” “thinker”, Herbert Spencer.”

Interested, I decided to research Spencer, as I too had heard of him as a proponent of social darwinism.

Indeed, it is important, as Wikipedia alleges that “He has been claimed as a precursor by libertarians and anarcho-capitalists. Economist Murray Rothbard called Social Statics "the greatest single work of libertarian political philosophy ever written.”"

Here is what I found:

On Spencer’s ethics:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Spencer#Ethics

It appears that he believed in non-aggression and in private property rights. Seems good to me.

On social darwinism:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Spencer#

"According to Roderick Long, Leonard argues that “Hofstadter is guilty of distorting Spencer’s free market views and smearing them with the taint of racist Darwinian collectivism.”

and

The claim that Spencer was a Social Darwinist might have its origin in a flawed understanding of his support for competition. Whereas in biology the competition of various organisms can result in the death of a species or organism, the kind of competition Spencer advocated is closer to the one used by economists, where competing individuals or firms improve the well being of the rest of society

and

Furthermore, Spencer viewed charity and altruism positively, as he believed in voluntary association and informal care as opposed to using government machinery

While further research is needed, it does appear that Spencer has been unduly blamed for eugenics.

Reading some of Spencer’s political views, they actually seem quite nice, believing in the rejection of the state and instead embracing of a voluntary society.

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I believe your last post on Spencer was entirely correct. Making comparisons between market competition and survival of the fittest is not akin to saying, “stomp on the poor and let them die.” It’s a very apt description in that profit-maximizing (i.e., supplying demand) ideas tend to promulgate and win out over time, less efficient ideas die out. Most people don’t think of that as “Social Darwinism,” they assume that means the weeding out of undesirables through eugenics.

I have seen libertarians recently referred to as being advocates of “Market Darwinism”

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So… does that make Keynesians Market Creationists?

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Market Creationists

+1

Edit: That is actually so perfect! Some big important economist comes in and makes the economy!