Human Nature

The oldest and most successful theory on human nature is the one that forms the basis of the theory of natural rights. It assumes that people are naturally inclined to make things, collect things and trade things, and that we fear those who try to take things away from us by force, and are drawn towards those who are willing to cooperate in a mutually profitable manner. We are inclined to cheat if we think we can get away with it, and we are naturally lazy, seldom preferring work to horsing around or doing nothing.

The theory of natural rights says that in the absence of any government or state, people will still recognize justice, and fear those who violate it. An example of this is the merchant who brings his wares to a market and sees that some people are stealing and others are trading fairly. The merchant will, in the absence of laws seek to defend his wares from the thieves, and seek to cooperate with those that trade fairly. And he will do this even if he sees that the fair traders punish thieves harshly.

It is human nature to view any threat to ones life, property or freedom as evil, and to defend oneself from this. It is also human nature to recognize this in the interactions of other people, and see it as everyone’s natural right to protect themselves from thieves, murderers and kidnappers. Failing to recognize the dangers of evil people is likely to result in loss of liberty, property and life, so it is of vital importance for people to recognize this. It is so important, in fact, that it is human nature to identify and fear the threat of evil.

An immediate and natural conclusion from this theory about human nature is that laws and politics should be made such that they protect people from what is seen as evil.

A testable consequence of this theory is that societies that value life, property and freedom highly will prosper and be peaceful, while societies that value these rights less highly, or even view these rights as somehow corrupt and mistake will do less well.

What we know from history is in fact that the 17th century Dutch Republic and the United States of the 18th and 19th century, which were governed almost solely by natural rights did in fact prosper rather than turn into anarchy, which some people would have expected. The most successful countries today have all strong property rights, have much freedom for their citizens and protect people well against threats to their lives.

Notable failures have all been lacking in property rights, had very little freedom, and did not protect people well from threats to their lives. The Soviet Union, Nazi Germany and Cambodia are good examples from the 20th century. North Korea and Zimbabwe are similarly dysfunctional today.

And it is not only at the extremes that the correlation between adherence to natural rights and success is strong. Pick almost any country at random, and check their ranking when it comes to wealth and social stability against their standing when it comes to natural rights, and the correlation is profound. Only countries with enormous natural resources can deviate from this correlation, which further illustrate the enormous cost associated with laws and policies that do not take natural rights seriously.

The correlation is so strong on this point that it seems likely that sensible predictions can be made when it comes to the consequences of new laws and policies being introduced in a country, as well as the consequence of leaving existing laws unchanged if they are in fact in conflict with natural rights.

Human nature is such that people will always try to get as much as possible for as little as possible. If laws are enacted that allow people to do this by violating other peoples’ property, liberty or life, serious consequences can be expected. This is true both if individuals are allowed to violate these rights and if the state is allowed to do so.

A state that collects taxes for the sole purpose of protecting its citizens, and make infrastructure that enhances everyone’s life is not deviating much from natural rights since the taxes that are forcibly collected return an easy to recognize benefit. However, if a state collects taxes for the purpose of redistributing wealth, taking property from one for the purpose of giving it to another, the state acts in violation of natural rights and serious consequences can be expected.

The western world is experimenting with wealth redistribution, and the consequences are about to be visible. Economic growth is slowing in Europe and infrastructure is decaying at an alarming rate in Norway. The US has just passed a health reform, and slower economic growth will most likely be the consequence of this over there too.

The welfare state, being so popular in the western world, is likely to cause serious trouble, for the simple reason that it violates property, by forcibly taking money from one for the sole purpose of giving it to another.