People, Pies, and Politics

Had an interesting experience the other day. I was talking with a friend who is significantly liberal when it comes to politics. Somehow, in our conversation, it came up that I used to work at NuSkin, a multi-level marketing company with its headquarters here in Utah County. She was impressed when I told her of all the humanitarian work that NuSkin is involved with, such as teaching farmers in Africa enhanced farming techniques that will make them more self-reliant, providing food to children in third-world countries, and a host of other services both internationally and domestically. She then said, "hopefully they're doing it because they really care and not for P.R. reasons." The full meaning and impact of what she said didn't hit me till later. She might as well have inserted the word "profit" instead of "P.R. reasons."
The problem with a liberal view of economics is that it assumes that selfishness is the same thing as self-interest. People need to understand this. They are not the same thing. First of all, I agree that selfishness is bad. It blinds our judgement. It makes us deliberately step on other people to get to the top. Self-interest, on the other hand, makes us work for our own good, while recognizing that we can't cheat our way to the top. Self-interest is, in short, working for our own benefit in a judicious and honest manner. This is how law-abiding citizens, including my friend, live. They are motivated by self-interest, which I would argue is just as basic and necessary of a human need as are food, clothing, shelter, and all the other things we often associate with third-world countries, where there is a deficiency of these things. We wouldn't want to live each day of our lives, if it weren't for self-interest. NuSkin, WalMart, Disney, and many other corporations are motivated by self-interest (or P.R. reasons, as my friend would term it) to help millions of people throughout the world, who lack basic human needs. The fundamental problem with my friend's thinking is that it assumes someone has to sacrifice his or her fundamental human need for the good of another. Liberals, for the most part, assume an "either-or" situation, while Conservatives, for the most part, hold to principles that allow everyone to prosper. The ideology of the left says you have to ration the pie out, that there's a limited amount available. The ideology of the right allows for a non-stop pie-making factory.