Ideas@TheCentre
The week at MPS: Pondering Smith, Ferguson, and national defence
This week’s meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society in Sydney not only demonstrated the fecundity of classical liberal thought across economic, political and cultural fields – it also brought home to me liberalism’s boundless spirit of inquiry into the human condition and the enduring relevance of liberal insights.
Take the paper by Professor James Otteson on ‘Lessons from the Scottish Enlightenment,’ which examined the ‘discussion that took place in Scotland in the eighteenth century about the good and bad effects of commercial society.’
Some Scots worried that in a world in which Reason had killed God and unleashed the productive forces of modern capitalism, material prosperity would destroy the moral and civic virtues that led men to purse higher ideals.
A particular worry, shared by no less a thinker than Adam Smith, was that men rendered comfortable, weak and lax by affluence would lack patriotic spirit, and be bereft of the valour required to defend the country when the enemy was at the gate.
Smith therefore supported compulsory elementary schooling to teach children good citizenship. The remedy proposed in 1754 by Adam Ferguson was to require military training of all adult males to instil martial vigour.
More than a century later, the same concerns exercised the minds of Australian liberals such as Charles Pearson, the ‘Professor of Democracy.’ Pearson worried that the advanced democracy practised in the Antipodes (which was committed to the equalitarian distribution of political authority and economic wellbeing) would sap the national character.
Fear of national torpor set the stage for the local response. In 1911, military training for boys and young men became compulsory. During this period, Australian per capita defence spending was amongst the highest in the world.
The national character was vouchsafed by the expenditure of treasure on national self-defence. It was vindicated by the blood of 60,000 Australian soldiers killed in the Great War.
At a time when the nation is debating its troop deployment in Afghanistan, this is worth reflecting upon. Like most Western democracies, Australia has for more than half a century outsourced its defence to the United States. We hope that supporting our ‘strong and powerful friend,’ while expending precious little blood and treasure, will guarantee US assistance in a crisis.
Given the trillions of dollars of US debt, this is an each way bet at best. Unbelievably, critics of the US alliance maintain that the Americans would respect us more if we did even less to help them out!
Professor Otteson got me thinking about what Smith and Ferguson might say about this state of affairs. Maybe that a nation dedicated to sport, shopping and appreciating house prices cannot stand. I hope we never find out whether this is correct.
Dr Jeremy Sammut is a Research Fellow at The Centre for Independent Studies. He attended MPS 2010 on a fellowship from the society.
