Picture: Adam Smith Statue by Donovan Reeves, licensed under Unsplash
SFL’s international conference shows why!
Adam Smith is properly conceived of as an advocate of globalization due to his articulation in the Wealth of Nations (1776) on the benefits of free trade. This may lead one to think that Adam Smith is against nationalism or at least he is not a nationalist. Unfortunately, at least, lamentably for the liberal individualists, this is not the case.
In his Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), Smith defends strong partiality to one’s nation:
“The patriot who lays down his life for the safety, or even for the vain-glory of this society, appears to act with the most exact propriety… we do not love our country merely as a part of the great society of mankind: we love [our country] for its own sake… [soldiers] cheerfully sacrifice their own little systems to the prosperity of a greater system.”1
Love for one’s nation, for its virtuous laws, customs, and habits, is no doubt understandable and even laudable. In fact, it is right and necessary to recognize and value the good for being the good.2 But this is not the earned admiration Smith describes. Smith himself admits that “partiality [to the nation],… may sometimes be unjust,…” but that we ought to be nationalistic anyway because it contributes “to the stability and permanency of the whole system.”3
However, I am going to have to disagree with Smith on this one. We ought to value the good and denounce the bad. Quoting Ayn Rand, “Judge, and be prepared to be judged,”4 this applies to individuals, nations, and whatever morally praise- or blame-worthy unit one can imagine.
Let me show you some morally praiseworthy people I met this past week as part of the first international Prometheus Fellowship meeting in Miami, Florida:
Photo taken on Friday, October 14, 2022.
In this picture you see four individuals of different nationalities, ethnicities, and sexes united by shared values. These immutable characteristics—just as all physical qualities—have no bearing whatsoever on the moral character of individuals. Our chosen and common belief in individual rights, classical liberalism, and rational self-interest are what unite us. To suggest that each of us should demonstrate partiality to a person chosen at random from our countries of birth is an act of moral counterfeiting and embezzlement.5
Students For Liberty is nobly and proudly an international organization that advances the universal values of individual rights and government limited to the protection thereof. Nationalism, like all other forms of collectivism, be damned.
For those readers who are pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree, from any nation on planet earth, I implore you to apply to SFL’s local coordinator program.
Citations
1 Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, VI.ii.2-3
2 Martin Hooss persuasively explains the moral demand of recognizing the good for being the good in a presentation delivered recently to Students For Liberty’s Prometheus Fellows. I am paraphrasing from him here and, if he makes his presentation available to the public, will link to it here retrospectively.
3 Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, VI.ii.i.20.
4 Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness, P. 72.
5 Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged.
This piece solely expresses the opinion of the author and not necessarily the organization as a whole. Students For Liberty is committed to facilitating a broad dialogue for liberty, representing a variety of opinions.
