A year on, thank you. There is more to come

A huge thank you to all paid and free subscribers to Fighting for a Free Future – there is much to do and we will announce next month how we will be stepping up

When I launched Fighting for a Free Future last summer, it was ironic that I needed the permission of a Government committee. That is the price of being a former minister: two years of requiring a licence for anything paid you might do – supposedly to protect the reputation of Government…

Thank you to all our subscribers, paid and free - your support is much appreciated!

I think it is glaringly obvious that the Government’s reputation needs protecting in other ways: the country is in a deep mess, one worsening despite electing a party promising change for the better. It is increasingly clear that the old order of things is breaking down and something new is emerging.

What is that decaying order and what comes next? What can people of good faith do?

First, let no one claim the old order embodies the principles of a free society.

We have not had limited government, low taxes, balanced budgets and sound money for many years. Over recent decades, public spending has grown far beyond sustainable revenues, with taxes at their practical limit and debt on an unsustainable path. Governments of all parties have relied on chronic credit expansion, underpinned by a fiat monetary system which allows banks to lend money into existence on a grand scale. And then there has been “quantitative easing” (colloquially, money printing). The result has been repeated boom–bust cycles, asset bubbles, the erosion of productive capital, massive economic injustice and declining faith in a market economy – outcomes entirely predictable from the Austrian theory of the trade cycle. Read more in the following article or my paper for Axiom.

Or read FFF Director, Harry Richer, on the myth of small-state Britain.

Moreover, in some parts of the country, it appears the law protecting children – which should have been applied to all with zero tolerance and without fear or favour – was not applied to ethnic minorities over fears of community tension. That is an outrageous failure of the state in its first duty to protect the innocent and vulnerable from crime. It is a catastrophic failure to uphold the rule of law, a fundamental pillar of justice in a free society. Justice demands one law, equally applied to all: any perception of double standards corrodes trust in institutions and fuels division. And so it has.

After years of suppressing difficult conversations about immigration and identity, the left-liberal elite has helped foment extraordinary tension and animosity across the country. We now face what Dr Steve Davies of the IEA calls “the great realignment”: politics is no longer ordered on the capitalist–socialist axis, but on a new divide between cosmopolitan-globalists and communitarian-nationalists. The ideal of free movement in Mises’ classical liberalism depended on limited government and private property: that is, no welfare state. In today’s interventionist welfare states, mass immigration without integration creates flashpoints over benefits, jobs and identity – and must be addressed realistically, without racism or collective guilt towards the innocent majority of migrants whose main offence was merely seeking a better life in the prevailing circumstances.

What is failing is a kind of big-state cultural authoritarianism masquerading as liberalism, which reached its peak under Tony Blair. His government’s programme of constitutional change, aggressive yet flawed equality law and politicised public services embedded identity politics into institutions and elevated technocratic governance over democratic accountability in a free society. These interventions were sold as “modernisation” but left a brittle settlement now unravelling.

The principles of a free society have not been upheld resolutely for many years – and we now face the blowback. To recover, we must consciously restore them.

1. Civil society. Civil society consists of voluntary associations outside the state, from families to charities, that bind us together. Civil society has been undermined by the growth of the state, with social capital declining as government programmes displace local initiative and community life: this is why David Cameron sought to build “The Big Society”.

2. Democracy. Democracy requires that people in power can be removed peacefully at the ballot box and replaced with someone less unsatisfactory. In recent years, authority for significant decisions has been handed to unaccountable officials in quangos and judicial interventions have eroded public faith in institutions.

3. Equality. Equality before the law is one of the standards of a free society. This has been breached when authorities apply the law differently in pursuit of equal outcomes and for fear of offending certain groups, as seen in the grooming gang scandal.

4. Free enterprise. Free enterprise has been eroded by corporatism and cronyism, with regulation and subsidies favouring politically connected firms over genuine competition.

5. Freedom. The sphere of individual action free from coercion is shrinking, with restrictions on peaceful protest and speech under legislation such as the disastrous Online Safety Act, which I opposed.

6. Human rights. Human rights should be universal and reciprocal safeguards for individuals, not privileges and entitlements for favoured identity groups.

7. Justice. Justice requires impartial enforcement of the law without fear or favour. In practice, policing is now seen as selective, with vigorous enforcement against some protesters and leniency toward others depending on political sympathies.

8. Peace. Peace at home depends on order based on consent. It has been weakened by violent protests, community tensions and a tendency to excuse disorder when politically convenient.

9. Private property. Private property underpins independence and social cooperation. It has been undermined by wide-ranging powers of entry, arbitrary planning restrictions, compulsory purchase orders and legislative changes.

10. The rule of law. The rule of law means one law for all, equally applied. It is breached when identity politics drives double standards in policing and sentencing.

11. Spontaneous order. Spontaneous order arises from free interaction, not central planning. It is harmed by the assumption that complex social and economic systems can be directed successfully from a centre.

12. Toleration. Toleration means the willingness to live peaceably with those with whom we deeply disagree, when they are doing us no harm. Relations have too frequently declined into irreconcilable hostility, with political opponents treated as enemies rather than fellow citizens.

That is why I am so grateful for readers’ support: people of good faith fighting for the principles of a free society.

In September, we will announce what we have achieved in recent months and enlarge the scope, reach, and impact of this project. This marks the exciting next stage of the Fighting for a Free Future project. There is a huge amount to be done to fight for a free future that delivers prosperity and a society at ease with itself – one that works for everyone.

We will be inviting you to join us in that work. Let’s keep fighting for a free future, together.

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References

Nigel Ashford, Principles for a Free Society – definitions and explanations of civil society, democracy, equality, free enterprise, freedom, human rights, justice, peace, private property, the rule of law, spontaneous order and toleration.

Detlev Schlichter, Paper Money Collapse – the folly of elastic money, the historical record of commodity money and the destabilising effects of credit expansion.

Ludwig von Mises, Liberalism in the Classical Tradition – defence of private property and its role in sustaining a free society.

Steve Baker, “Zero tolerance is the answer to child sexual exploitation” (CapX) – case study of failures to enforce the law impartially in grooming gang cases.

Steve Baker, Honest Money and Social Progress - a paper for Axiom on the importance of Bitcoin infrastructure, setting out unsustainable UK fiscal policy, the limits of taxation and the dangers of monetary expansion.

Steve Baker, Racism is running riot – the need for equal application of the law and rejection of identity-based double standards.

Steve Baker, Immigration, integration and social cohesion – a classical liberal view on free movement and why it fails under interventionist states.