continued…
On the other hand, people of a conservative perspective usually assume the position that anything the government does is bad and then make irrelevant and extravagant claims that the government can’t run things as efficiently as the free market. While that may be true in certain contexts (and false in others depending on what it is that you want them to “run”) it misses the point.
In reality, any person that wants a free market system to have a chance at working must understand that it is absolutely fundamental to have a government that is effective at enforcing proper laws; the freedom of the market place must be protected.
Just because a person is in government or business doesn’t make them automatically good or evil. Let us suppose you’ve just had a new house built. The state sends around an inspector to check on the structure to see if the building codes were properly met. If the inspector gives your house passing marks does this guarantee newly built house will stand? Of course not, it will stand if the contractor/builder was conscientious and competent in doing their job in building your house.
It is irrational to assume that all contractors are in business to be evil bastards out to take all your money and leave you with a home that will collapse after they have paid off the inspectors. There should be effectively written building codes in order to set a legal standard of what is acceptable workmanship should a contractor/builder try to lie, cheat, steal or otherwise engage in some kind of fraud upon the buyer.
On the other hand, it is useless to think that all government building inspectors are lazy socialists that can be paid off to overlook poor workmanship; or that they are power-mad, mini-dictators bent on destroying the building trades. Simply complaining about “new rules and regulations” the government is devising is irresponsible and counterproductive. For example, if a new technology is developed we will in fact need new (and more) rules and regulations that will properly define property rights, theft, fraud, etc. in this new context.
I am not an optimist; I don’t believe humans are “fundamentally good”. I am not a pessimist; I don’t believe humans are “fundamentally bad”. I am an Objectivist. It is my conviction that people are not predisposed to any moral state, as it would be a contradiction in terms. Humans are “fundamentally volitional”; they have free will and can decide to be good or bad at any given point in their conscious existence. It is true that a habitual pattern of virtue or vice can be difficult to change. But, it is possible to change. Otherwise there can be no such thing as morality, which is specifically the ability to freely choose to identify and understand a situation and proceed to act in a good or bad way based upon your identification and understanding.