Out of Place

"Some of your fingers are out of place. I have to push them back. If I do not do this, there's a chance that you may never use them again."
--Arthur Castus (King Arthur)

A protest group collectively labeled Occupy Wall Street has been gathering in lower Manhattan over the past few weeks. The headlines suggest that the theme of the protest relates to 'greedy bankers' and to a lesser extent to the bankers' government ties.

As with any gathering of this type, however, the true message of the group is difficult to discern. It appears that nearly all political and economic viewpoints are represented--from Communists to Libertarians.

Let's assume for a moment that the headlines are correct, and that the primary complaint of the protesters relates to Wall Street's cozy relationship with government. Such a relationship can be filed under the heading of corporatism.

Corporatism involves the division of people in society into groups based on common interests, and the actions of those groups to employ government to satisfy those interests by political means.

The corporatism label seems somewhat unfortunate as it implies that the groups in question are limited to large, for-profit corporations (which seems to be the focus of many OWS protesters). But in its general sense corporate groups consist of any group seeking to tilt government influence in their direction. In addition to for-profit corporations, SIGs include non-profit organizations, unions, environmentalists,...any group seeking a distribution of resources from the State.

Corporatism, therefore, reflects the world of special interest groups (SIGs). SIGs trade in the market for political favor. They get special privileges from politicians in exchange for votes, campaign contributions, etc.

Protesting the actions a particular SIG seems akin to the doctor who treats the symptom of an illness rather than the cause. A general axiom of human behavior is that people prefer leisure to labor, and that they seek to satisfy needs with minimal effort.

As such, when the scope of government is broadened to include the power to redistribute resources by force, then a market for political favor is established. Like night follows day, SIGs will materialize to employ government to redistribute resources in their direction--to acquire resources by political rather than by economic means. Bankers will do this as will unions, etc because it is human nature to do so.

Stopping SIG activity means limiting government's scope to the protection of property (broadly construed to mean life, liberty, and property). This was the intent of the founders as expressed by the Constitution. Of course, government stepped past its Constitutional boundaries long ago.

The Occupy Wall Street gathering therefore seems misplaced. If the OWS crowd is truly for a return to limited government, then they should be surrounding the US Capitol.