Risk or safety?

This blog from Frances Coppola in my opinion sums up exactly what is going on in society today. We want it all!

"At the Keynes vs Hayek debate at the LSE on 26th July, Shiv Malik (from the audience) asked a question which stopped the panel in their tracks. He commented that Hayek could be regarded as representing the desire of people in the 1930s for freedom, and Keynes as representing their need for security. And he asked whether people of today are looking for both freedom and security.

Needless to say, the panel did not answer his question - though many economic writers of today are indeed attempting to bridge this divide. But it reminded me of a song that some of my students sing, and the conversation I always have with them about the meaning of the song.

The song is "Dona, dona" by Sholom Secunda and was originally written in Yiddish. Only the verses are relevant and I reproduce them here in the translation recorded by Donovan in 1968.

On a wagon, bound for market, there's a calf with a mournful eye.
High above him there's a swallow, winging swiftly through the sky.

"Stop complaining", said the farmer, "who told you a calf to be?
Why don't you have wings to fly with, like the swallow, proud and free?"

Calves are easily bound and slaughtered, never knowing the reason why.
But whoever treasures freedom, like the swallow has learned to fly.

I learned this song when I was eight, and at the time thought it was about a calf called Donna - and was very puzzled by the calf's gender. I know better now.

This song exemplifies the very tension between desire for freedom and need for security that Shiv Malik identified, that different schools of economics portray and opposing political parties espouse. And I believe his point was really that human beings need both freedom and security, so our economic and political structures need to accommodate both of these - degrees of freedom so that calves can grow wings and fly if they wish, and degrees of support and protection for those who, for whatever reason, are not able to fend for themselves as swallows must. We are both calves and swallows. And the degree to which we are "calf" or "swallow" varies at different times in our lives and in different circumstances. In my own life I have been, generally, much more swallow than calf: the choices I have made have forced me in that direction, even when I would much rather have been a calf for a while. Equally I am sure that there are many people who have ended up as calves when they had hoped to be swallows.

In our society we generally aspire to "freedom", but we don't like the risks that attend it. In other societies, people like the protection that comes from conforming, except when that becomes oppressive - then they start clamouring for "freedom". And when times are good we resent government interference in our lives, but when times are difficult we call on government to rescue us. Being a swallow means accepting responsibility for our own lives, including the difficult bits. Being a calf means giving up some of our freedom in order to be cared for by our society."
Carry on reading here!