Page:David Atkins - The Economics of Freedom (1924).pdf/348

Franchise

 

We have so long accustomed ourselves to think of freedom in political instead of economic terms, that we cry “one man, one vote” and regard the argument as closed. True freedom is a product of definitely balanced power and responsibility. “One man, one vote” is a red-herring drawn across the logical road to economic freedom. A program for the creation of general facilities, which provides a basic wage for all willing labor, with a margin for saving, and makes the extension of individual land-ownership unprofitable beyond a rational limit, throws open to every citizen the opportunity of owning land. The citizen then should register his citizenship in land, as all good citizens would if they could. He should proclaim his franchise, patent his sovereignty and by the same act admit his pro rata responsibility. This ensures the essential conditions of true economic freedom; but even if this goal cannot be reached it will probably be so nearly reached with the provision of economic order that universal suffrage will cease to provide free pasture for the demagogue.

 

Coercion of the Landless

 

Full consideration has been given to the coercion possible under a gold-standard system (even though we realize that it rests upon tradition and not upon gold). We must, therefore, be on guard against a similar situation arising from the private ownership of land. This is automatically safeguarded, on one hand, by the full disclosure of basic economic value, as measured by population-density: with pro rata responsibility, or taxation, imposed upon this basis, individual ownership is likely to be limited to the capacity to manage the area efficiently. On the other hand it is definitely proposed to provide safe footing for surplus labor by ensuring an opportunity at all times to enter the employment of the Government at a fair wage, so that any attempted economic coercion is definitely stopped at a certain point. What a well-organized self-governing community should have is a standing industrial army designed for