Sustainability advocates in North Carolina claim that market economies are out of date. I found this definition of sustainability today:
The basic concept of sustainability is a simple one?let?s find ways of doing things that will maintain the long term health of the natural and social systems we all depend upon for life, while providing sound economic returns.
So far, the definition sounds reasonable. Myself and my colleagues at the John Locke Foundation would certainly agree that this is a good definition for a sustainable economy. However, this definition continues:
The challenge lies in that our current economic and industrial models are based on out-of-date premises about inexhaustible natural resources and humankind?s ability to impact global systems. Just as the mere idea that the Earth revolves around the Sun required a fundamental shift in how humans saw themselves in relation to the universe in Galileo?s time, sustainability requires that we rethink our relationship to nature and to each other today.
That’s right, these “sustainability” advocates are saying that “our current economic and industrial models (markets) are based on out of date premises.” The free enterprise model, therefore, must be replaced by a “fundamental shift.” This is how one advocates a Marxist revolution without using the name Marx.
