On a recent visit to Lancashire (a county in the north of England) I found a 1906 Chambers encyclopaedia in the house I was staying in.
Now whilst the encyclopaedia had lots of the then newly fashionable statism within it (the “historical method” in economics and other such nonsense), it did have some interesting articles and the one on Iceland caught my eye.
Most libertarians are aware of the Iceland example of a basically free society. How incoming settlers arrived in an empty land (apart from a handful of monks in a tiny area), and established a private property based society without such things as taxes.
Also how things first went well over time – for example with slavery dying out (the Norse settlers started off with Irish slaves – but, over time, the practice of slavery fell apart) without any civil war.
However, then (after centuries of settlement) tithes were introduced in the 1080’s (Iceland had become Christian in 1000 – so Christianity did not mean religious taxes at first). And then (after a couple of more centuries) a few families tried to monopolise the courts of justice (which arbiter one went to had been a matter of choice), fell into conflict – and the Icelanders made the fatal mistake of inviting in the power of the King of Norway.
First under the Kings of Norway and then (far worse) the Kings of Denmark statism grew in Iceland, with state control of much land, monopoly of trade and on.
A sad tale – supposedly one well fitted for grim minded people like myself.
However, the story did not end there. I have long known that in stages in the 18th and 19th century a lot of freedom was restored to Iceland (by later Kings of Denmark), but I did not know just how much of a free society Iceland became again.
Reading the Chambers article was instructive. Not only was Iceland a free trade country (which I knew) it was also a land of a fairly high cultural level.
In about 1900 (a time when there were hardly any state schools in Iceland – indeed when there was very little government at all) virtually every person could read and write (they were taught, by their families, in childhood) – and a large proportion of adult men could get by in several languages.
This was at a time when in, for example, Sweden (with its system of state education) about one in four people was illiterate.
Certainly after 1904 local government was allowed to grow in Iceland – but the fact remains that Iceland had, for a time, become a basically free society again.
It is these sorts of things that makes me (much to the confusion of the people who know me) take a fairly positive view of the future of the human race. The growth of statism is not inevitable – government control can decline without a collapse into chaos and a free society can be rebuilt.
Modern Western nations are (as is well known) fiat money, credit bubble, welfare states. They will fall apart, most likely quite soon – say over the next ten years.
However, I do not think that this will mean a collapse into savagery (mass starvation, cannibalism and so on). I believe that (with hard effort and good luck) something much closer to a free society will emerge.
I do not expect to live to see it (my own position is not a good one, and I am a fairly realistic man – not in the habit of accepting comfort from lies), but I firmly believe that many libertarians now living will see it.
You have both my best wishes and my confidence.
Write a book: The Coming Libertarian Consensus, The Libertarian Future, whatever.
I’d read it.
A little optimism makes a nice change.
I have to say that that brightens my day. I don’t know about your timetables, but I agree with the thrust of your argument. I think.
What a refreshing line of thought, certainly qualifies as a ‘light at the end of the tunnel’.
A thought I have had for a while, is that the bureaucratic machine would crumple from the sheer weight of its own bureaucracy, couple this to the apathetic, lazy, third rate work ethic that exists in any such organisation, and the end is practically pre-determined. The only problem is, who has the more stamina, the long suffering populace, or the indolent, time serving bureaucrats?.
As always, and as I’ve done quite a lot lately, I can’t help but throwing more crap on Sweden (I live here, so I have every right to criticize this socialist experiment).
“This was at a time when in, for example, Sweden (with its system of state education) about one in four people was illiterate.”
So true, so true – State education has only brought pain and suffering. Many might be surprised (or not) to know that only about 15 years ago, State schools were the only schools on Swedish soil. Yep. There might’ve been one or so “free” schools (ie. private or outside the control of the state), but those were most likely closed, for many reasons (restrictions etc. from the State, anyone?), or they lived on with heavy ties to the State. No wonder socialism has lived on for so many years (years that have ruined this once wonderful country) – what do you expect to learn in State schools? Objective teaching? HA. That’s a myth in Sweden.
Anyway, sorry for being a bit off-topic here…Iceland is now added on my list of possible countries to immigrate to.
“…I can’t help but throwing more crap on Sweden.” I wish I’d wrote that. I mean, isn’t that how we all feel after having our first cup of coffee each morning?
A Swedish friend of mine who has lived here for about 8 years now has told me what a scandal it is in Sweden that the standard of living of American blacks is, on average, higher than that of your average lily white Swede. A group of people who only 30 years ago were truely 2nd class citizens, and nearly powerless economically, has managed to improve their lot equal to that of the great social democratic experiment in just 1 generation. Likewise, the average citizen of Mississippi is better off, as well (which is the state that even Alabamans make fun of).
Russ,
Out of curiosity, when your friend said “better off”, by what comparison was he using? Liberty? Tax freedom? Life span? (others?)
Nate,
There is only one criteria, it’s called the ‘Quality of Life’.
It comprises a number of elements, not least of which is how happy people are. Freedom, health, food, shelter, education, law and order, and many other facets which go to make up a ‘quality’ life. All of these are in themselves comparative, and what suits one generation does not always sit too comfortably with the next, they want to see improvement, we call it progress….
I’m actually referring to “standard of living”. But actually, it looks like family income is the measureing stick. I was referring to study by some Swedish economists that got bantied about last year in the blogosphere regarding the findings I mentioned. Here’s the original Instalink but the link to the article is dead. I imagine it was a link to a reuters dispatch on Yahoo’s New site.
http://www.instapundit.com/archives/000536.php
When I mentioned it to my friend at the time she said her Dad (whose a pilot in Sweden) had already raised hell about it and that the study was making some waves in that fair country.
Here’s a link from Objectivists.org which I’m sure posted this with absolute glee.
http://www.objectivists.org.au/2002/PoorSweden.htm
Maybe I am remembering my world history wrong, but I could have sworn that Norway was tossed back and forth between Denmark and Sweden after wars and royal marriages before becoming independant in 1905 when Danish Prince Karl became Haakon the first (his grandson Haarald is on the thrown now) of Norway. It only “ruled” Iceland for I think a year, but I may be wrong.
Sweden is a favorite of my now former (thankfully) professors as an example of socialism done right. Free daycare and all that. I always would spoil their spin of Sweden as paradise. Meanwhile, we had a few Swedish exchange students who went to my school for the sole reason that Swedish University are not taken seriously and to have an education in the states makes you more competative (why, I don’t know).
Iceland was originally settled by the Norse in 870-90 (mostly from Norway, but many of them probably came from the Norse settlements on and off the Scottish coast). They did indeed make stops for slaves in the Britain, genetic research indicates that about 80% of the male foundation population came from Norway, while about 70% of the women came from the British Isles.
The independent Icelandic commonwealth was founded in 930 AD when the Althing was founded, the world’s first parliament. It did pass laws, but mostly the Althing functioned as a judiciary, a high court of sorts, while most matters were settled in local “things” founded immediately after the original settlement.
Following unrest and violence between local chieftains, Iceland swore fealty to the king of Norway in 1262 after the Althing voted for the union. Hope for peace under a foreign king was certainly a factor, but there were other reasons as well, mostly economic and legal.
Olav V of Denmark united Denmark and Norway under one crown in 1380. Iceland and Greenland were included in the package. In 1660 the Danish king decided that absolutism was all the rage and two years later he demanded absolute allegiance from the Icelanders. Until then the union had been based on a covenant. This did not help the Icelanders who were already in a bad shape after a climatic downturn, famine and plague. Things went rather downhill after that for the next century and half.
It should however be noted that the Danish were not the worst of colonial rulers, although they were somewhat neglectful. (As British seapower grew Iceland soon fell under England’s sphere of influence and at one point was even offered to England, which turned the offer down although it was seriously considered, mainly for humanitarian reasons.)
Denmark lost Norway to Sweden at the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1814, but Iceland remained under Denmark. Iceland was declared a sovereign country in union with Denmark in 1918 and an agreement made that in 25 years time it could gain independence. In 1944 Iceland decided it couldn’t wait for Denmark to be liberated from Nazi rule and declared independence. (British forces had thankfully occupied Iceland in 1940 as German invasion was feared, but as the British forces were badly needed elsewhere Iceland requested American military protection a year later.)
My friend is an MP stationed in Iceland at the US Navy base.
Johan, you do not want to live there.
The picture he paints is one of crushing boredom, conformity, and all the other ills that come from cradle-to-grave nanny statism. There aren’t even dangerous animals. My friend was a submariner, and he knows about boredom and routine, and even he is bored out of his mind. Even their criminals are incredibly boring; the worst he has to deal with is shoplifters or people trying to sneak onto the base.
You’ve been warned.
So basicly they all learned to read cause the bowling ally was closed for six months of the year.
But I’m no fan of state education. Nope.