Mathematics brought rigor to Economics.
Unfortunately, it also brought mortis.

I see now more clearly than ever before that even our greatest troubles spring from something that is as admirable and sound as it is dangerous-from our impatience to better the lot of our fellows.

I am speaking this evening to explain the systematic cause of our present economic, fiscal and therefore social crisis: excessively cheap money.

I don’t doubt that those who have managed our present social system meant well but they have operated a system which is unavoidably harmful, irrespective of good intentions. Likewise those who still propose Keynesian remedies: their prescriptions would make matters even worse, later.

If we are serious about bettering the lot of our fellows, we need to create the right social system and learn patience. That means social responsibility, not state control: a Big Society, not Big Government.

To attempt to coordinate society through coercion is an intellectual error.

– Jesús Huerta de Soto

The first of a series:

This is the gravest danger that today threatens civilization: State intervention, the absorption of all spontaneous social effort by the State; that is to say, of spontaneous historical action, which in the long-run sustains, nourishes and impels human destinies.

– Jose Ortega y Gasset, 1922, found in the introductory remarks to Our Enemy The State by Albert Jay Nock

And yet today, people still can’t figure out the Big Society.

We have far to go. I hope we travel quickly.

NB: The author is Tim Hewish, who I am glad to welcome as a local contributor. — Steve

One of my local Wycombe friends asked me: Why, as a young person, should I vote Conservative? I initially came out with the usual blurb about the positives of Conservatism, but she stopped me mid-way and she repeated ‘no, as a young person’. This made me think about the question further and I was fortunate enough to find two articles that stated my case beautifully. The first comes from a young campaigner who recently wrote on the ConHome website:

We’ve come to love and depend on our captors. A whole generation is clearly suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, direly dependent on the State – and Labour would have us stay this way to ensure we vote for them for years to come.

For many my age who think Stockholm Syndrome is just a Muse song let me flesh out the basics. It is instead defined as:

A paradoxical psychological phenomenon wherein a positive bond between hostage and captor occurs. In essence, eventually, the hostage views the perpetrator as giving life by simply not taking it.

For far too long, young people have been at the mercy of the Blair/Brown Curriculum.

Almost all of us rebel against our parents in our teens, but then why should we run into the arms of the big nanny state? There is a twisted Nineteen-Eighteen-Four aspect in our generation where we are taught: War is Peace (The Iraq War),  Freedom is Slavery (hundreds of children’s rights but no personal responsibility) and Ignorance is Strength (teaching us social issues, but not the educational facts that means we are unable to question and think for ourselves)

In a world where we are ‘told’ the standard of life has improved by reams of Gordon Brown’s statistics tell us they want a double-think worthy fair future for all. (Click hear for a new blog detailing all of Labour’s failures)

I ask you: Is it a fair future that thousands of young people leave school without the basic grasp of reading, writing and arithmetic? Is it a fair future when you finish university without there being enough jobs to go around? Is it a fair future that Labour doesn’t actively support the stability that marriage brings? Is it a fair future not being able to get a foot on the housing ladder? Is it a fair future that out of the almost 3 million unemployed 1 million of those are 18-24?

This is exacerbated even more by the second article I found, which shows Labour have dropped their pledge to get one million more people to own their home as it “compounds inequality”.

Their own Housing Minister, John Healey, attacked owner occupation, saying that:

“Home ownership had been dropping since 2005 and I’m not sure that’s such a bad thing” and he slammed parents passing a legacy on to their children since “inequality is compounded over the generations.”

Only in a world where 2+2=5 would this make sense and people would swallow it. The hard graft and determination to own your own home is one of greatest aspiration the young can aim for. It gives you a goal to work towards, it maintains your work-ethic, it gives you a sense of pride and something on which you can improve. While it is also something that you can leave to your children.

Relying on your own acumen and skill is something we should champion, not condemn.

Saying it compounds inequality just shows that Labour doesn’t want any free individual to own anything and wants everyone equally poor as Churchill correctly stated:

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.

So at a time when the Government’s own advisory body indicates that only 26 per cent of families aged under 40 could afford to buy a home in England in 2008, the Conservatives are calling for:

• A permanent cut in stamp duty for first-time buyers up to £250,000
• For an equity stake for social tenants who are good neighbours
• Respecting the tenures and rents of social tenants
• And are pledging to build more family homes with parking spaces and gardens for young families by scrapping flawed Whitehall density rules.

This is why young people should vote Conservative on May 6th and break the cycle of being Labour’s captives and end these 13 years of their Big Brother government and start embracing the Conservative vision of the Big Society based on hope, not fear.

David Cameron has pinned down a major source of Britain’s plight – worklessness. Building on his vision of Britain looking towards creating a Big Society, not running into the arms of the State, he sets out a bold plan of action. It will be a culture that is based on responsibility to one another, not simply rights. He said:

The old way of big government has failed. It’s time to tackle welfare dependency a new way – the Big Society way…This is our new welfare contract: do the right thing and we will back you all the way. But fail to take responsibility – and the free ride is over.

We will:

• make sure you get help as soon as you need it – straight away for those really struggling to find work, and after six months if you’re less than 25 years old;
• help you start your own business by giving you access to a business mentor and start-up loans;
• create a range of business-led training places to get you started on the road to employment, with 50,000 places in the hospitality and leisure industry to begin with;
• give you somewhere to go during the day – Work Clubs – so you can learn skills, find opportunities, make useful contacts and provide other people with support;
• if you’re under the age of 25, provide a huge range of extra training opportunities – 400,000 apprenticeship, training and college places over two years;
• and, pay back-to-work providers in full only if they get you into work for a year or more.

Mr. Cameron goes on to say:

But you must keep to your side of the bargain. We will make sure that you are claiming the right benefits and, within six months of taking office, we will introduce new sanctions for anyone who refuses to look for work

This will mean:

• cutting the benefits of anyone on Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) who refuses to join the Work Programme;
• cutting the benefits of anyone who refuses to take up reasonable job offers: the first time for one month; the second time for three months; and, the third time for up to three years;
• cutting benefits for up to three years for anyone caught repeatedly committing benefit fraud.

We feel society is only successful when people work together side by side and a culture of worklessness undermines the dynamic and entrepreneurial Britain we want to see. People can not sit on the sidelines during a recession – we believe firmly that everyone has a talent and that everyone can contribute. A Conservative Government will help every person achieve that.