So, we are told that European democracies would die soon. They would have passed, at best, under the control of technocrats from Brussels or Frankfurt; at worst, under that of markets. And all this, of course, would be the fault of the euro, the European Union, the banks and many other people. Not ours.
In fact, it is our democratically elected parliaments, and our governments freely established, of left or of right, which have, for decades, voted and carried out budget deficits. It is they, who, particularly since 2008, have caused deficits to explode, putting today our country into the hands of the markets, that is to say the lenders. And it is also they, in some of our countries who are now giving mandate to senior officials to govern them.
The reason is that many people have forgotten that democracy does not give the right to vote nonsense, in the name of the sacrosanct sovereignty of the people; in particular, it does not allow parliamentarians to increase spending by an infinite amount, while reducing revenues. It is only the best way to distribute public goods freely under the constraints of scarcity; as the market is the best way to organize the freedom of choice of private property under the constraint of scarcity.
Because raw materials and energy are scarce; and that the time allotted to us on this Earth is even more scarce. And that freedom allows us only to manage more effectively our lives, inside the prison of time where the human condition imprisons us.
To manage this scarcity in the smartest way possible, we have chosen for millennia to use money, because it makes it possible to avoid the violence of plundering and the dangers of barter.
When the market forgets this constraint of scarcity, it leads, by one thousand means, consumers to get into debt. And when democracy forgets it, the State also slides into debt. And when they forget the limits of their missions, commercial banks organize the illusion of the disappearance of scarcity as the central banks give them the resources to do so. Too much credit. Too much issuance of currency.
Circumstances are forcing us, for a short time I hope, to continue to be free from all this. But this cannot go on indefinitely: at some point, scarcity will reassert itself: In the markets, with inflation; in democracy with defaulting. In both cases, by calling into question freedom. In the name of its defence.
But we have not yet reached that point.
To avoid it, we must take advantage of the current circumstances to reflect on the limits that reality imposes on our freedom: we, poor humans are limited in the means at our disposal. It is up to us to make the best possible use. Spread them out in a much better way. And make the most of everything that is not scarce, anything that increases when it is given: ideas, tenderness, friendship, laughter, love. Moreover, it is no coincidence that the networks, real or virtual meeting places, have become so important: they are the instruments of the movement of goods not scarce.
So if we want to avoid some limitations of our condition, it will be necessary to change our current development model towards the consumption of goods that are not scarce. Towards altruism and the pleasure of pleasing others. Another world.