CONFIDENCE: Between Hubris and Subjugation
CONFIDENCE is the foundation for societal institutions and the mortar, which holds together complex systems. Without understanding the finer points of international diplomacy, we have confidence in the continuity of nations. We have confidence in economies, even if we do not understand the minute details of their operations. However, without confidence, these things cannot exist. Should we withdraw confidence, these things will come crashing down like a house of cards.
When economies go bad, we hear talk that “Consumer Confidence” has declined. Do you have any idea what serves as the basis for the value of the U.S. Dollar? “Confidence” … Its worth, such as it is, is based entirely upon a belief that the dollar has value and that other persons are willing to accept dollars as a medium of exchange for products or services. which we desire. Absolutely nothing more substantial or permanent supports the value of the dollar (or the underlying economy).
Adam Smith referred to this phenomenon as the “Invisible Hand.” In his seminal work, “Wealth of Nations,” Smith characterizes the mechanisms through which beneficial social and economic outcomes may arise from the accumulated self-interested actions of individuals, none of whom intends to bring about such outcomes. [Britannica]
We equate laissez-faire with “free market” economies, but the phrase can be translated “let do/let go” or “let (people) do (as they choose).” [M-W] Economies work best when we do not attempt to force them to act in our own interests. The objective should be to receive benefits commensurate with our contributions not to benefit without reciprocal contributions, work, or effort. Each person presumably acts in his or her own self interests, but in this case “greed is good.” Smith himself said:
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages.
Is such a system perfect? None is. Want exists, in fact that is the primary factor in any successful economic system:
Want motivates demand. Demand stimulates production. Transactions improve efficiencies. Increased productivity creates additional value. The availability of excess allows (for some) the accumulation of wealth. Wealth allows for the (re)distribution or allocation of resources in an amount beyond mere sustenance.
Of course, one’s confidence in the system and in himself can become irrational and lead to recklessness. In the 1990’s, Alan Greenspan spoke of “Irrational Exuberance” with regards to the growing “dot com” bubble, which ultimately burst. A real estate bubble was partially responsible for the slightly more recent Great Recession.
The process is similar to when the beneficial trait of confidence in one’s self and one’s abilities turns into excessive pride, unabashed arrogance, or even a fatal hubris. Pride in one’s family and friends can motivate one to tribalism and vengeance. One’s patriotism can can become jingoism, which can lead to civil unrest or even widescale war. One’s religious faith can turn into fanaticism leading to violence and genocide.
Many persons understand these excesses. We see them play out in our individual lives and in histories since time immemorial. They are the foundations for selfishness and greed. However, the absence of confidence and pride (individual and collective) is just as dangerous and destructive.
An individual with no pride is not motivated to improve or to produce. An economy (or currency) crashes in the absence of confidence. A tribe without pride or a nation without patriotism lack cohesion. While excessive pride and confidence may result in one being foolhardy and reckless, the absence of confidence and pride leads one to certain despair, an aimless life, and a course of self-destruction.
Some young boys see their fathers as superhuman: “My dad can beat up Superman.” To adults, this belief may not be objectively reasonable; however, that child has an entire lifetime, in which to learn disconcerting truths and uncomfortable realities: His father is entirely fallible, and by the way, Superman is not real.
However, there is significant benefit in his believing that his father will protect him, in believing that whatever monsters a child might imagine in his young mind cannot hurt him, and in believing that together they can and will confront any challenge or obstacle. Is that irrational … unrealistic? What is the alternative? The alternative is to fear everything and to surrender in the face of any challenge or opposition.
Yes, there will be disappointments, even failures. Every child experiences a moment in his or her life when (s)he realizes that parents are not superhuman. However, the hope is that in that moment the child will remember the Herculean efforts that parents made in order to provide opportunity and a sense of well-being, as well the monumental sacrifices that those same parents made so as to assure that those opportunities were greater and that the obstacles were lesser than their own. We are not commanded to be be perfect only to commit our efforts toward incremental improvement.
Here too we can speak of parental excesses, but the greater danger is not in having too much confidence and pride, but in having much too little. In the absence of confidence, one cannot do for himself. In the absence of pride, one is consumed by a sense of inferiority. One’s life comes to be defined by loss, longing, envy, covetousness, and despair.
On a larger scale, these things cause the collapse of entire economies, societies, and nations. One might not be the best butcher, brewer, or baker on the planet, but one should take pride his his own work and personal efforts. Each of us is an inevitably flawed human being — just as no parent or person generally is perfect — but, that does not mean that we should surrender to our shortcomings or succumb to our failures. Our pride should make us want to improve and our confidence affords us the motivation and opportunity to do so. Without those things, we have nothing, not even the hope, which Pandora was said to have retained in her box for the benefit of humanity.
There is a concerted movement afoot to destroy confidence and pride among persons and peoples. Some are deemed unworthy of their accomplishments and the rewards therefrom. Some are deemed “excessively privileged.” Many, who covet and demand the same or similar rewards, are told that they are incapable of competing or achieving. They are assigned to or self-identify within a “victim” class, and thereafter many adopt an attitude and culture of victimhood. Victimhood does not instill confidence and pride. Covetousness is not a motivation to productivity and success.
Victimhood and covetousness combine so as to create a sense of entitlement and envy. It leads to a mindset, in which forced takings (i.e. individual and institutional theft) are readily excused, in which personal responsibility is nonexistent, and in which want, loss, and despair are self-perpetuating. Efforts founded upon the supposed ideals of “social justice” and “equality” result in a headlong race toward mediocrity and a reduction of all persons and things to the lowest common denominator.
Is it possible that confidence can be unfounded? Of course. Is it possible for pride to become excessive? Certainly. After all “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. [Proverbs 16:18] However, suffering, loss, and destruction are no less certain in the absence of confidence and pride.
If you tell a child often enough that (s)he cannot succeed, then (s)he will always believe that success is out of reach. If you tell persons, with sufficient regularity that they are “victims,” then they will come to see themselves only as such. If you demean institutions and belittle systems incessantly, they are certain to collapse.
If persons, peoples, tribes, and nations have no confidence or pride, then it is nearly impossible for them to have anything of real import and value. If you believe yourself destined to fail, you certainly will. You can be confident in that fact.
