The Pursuit Of Happiness

The other night, I was at a fancy bar in downtown Bombay, drinking draught beer, when I was forced to step out in order to enjoy a cigarette - the curse of Legislation at work, once again. Outside, I happened to enter into conversation with two young fellows, one of whom remarked that people like me who visit such establishments are all "pleasure seekers" - and he meant this in a derogatory way. In order to demolish this stupid killjoy, I replied as follows:

All the hard work we all perform every day is nothing but pain. After the work is over, the pleasure begins - when we receive our wages or profits, which is what we are all working for. But these wages and profits are just money - hence real pleasure only comes our way when we spend that money on consumption. The work is just the "means"; consumption is the "end."

Now, while we all know that independent India has never really been a consumer's paradise, it is also an added fact that in all our cities of joy, there is very little recreation - like pubs everywhere, in which ordinary people can relax and enjoy a fresh draught beer or two or three. What is wrong with seeking such a small pleasure?

I added that the socialists who have been running our affairs since 1947 have always claimed that their policies will render India a better place for workers. They hate capitalists; they claim to love workers. But the truth is that workers obtain very little satisfaction from their wages. Import barriers hurt consumers - and, as far as pleasure is concerned, there is none. Poor people in our nation consume the worst booze, the worst tobacco (bidis) and the worst ganja-charas. There is almost no live music or dance. No casinos. No nightlife. This is precisely what happens when public opinion curses pleasure seekers.

When socialists uphold "the rights of workers" what they really defend are the legal privileges and immunities of trade union bosses. The real right of the worker is not just to his wage; rather, it is on the goods and services he can consume with these wages. That means free trade and free markets - not socialism. It surely also means the right to pursue pleasure and happiness, especially after a hard day's work.

The philosophy of pleasure as an end of civilised living is very old, dating back to Epicurus in ancient Greece. In Clive Bell's wonderful essay Civilisation, the author cites Plato's Symposium as being the best example of civilised living in the Athens of those times. The word "symposium" means "drinking party," and the tale told is of one such party that Socrates attended, where copious quantities of wine were drunk, where the conversation sparkled so much that the flute-girls were told to go away and entertain the servants so that the deep discussions could continue undisturbed. Much of the discussion was on love. Towards the end of the party, guests pass out one by one. Only Socrates remains capable of walking. Incidentally, while this party was indoors, there was also much drunken revelry going on outside on the streets!

I have just toured Gujarat, where Gandhian prohibition rules, and written a post on its horrendous effects. Gandhi also championed swadeshi - which screwed up our consumption. He championed an insane kind of work for all to perform for themselves - spin yarn on an ancient charkha. This screwed up our budding textile industry. It was Gandhi who found pleasure seeking immoral. There is nothing "theoretically valid" in this philosophy. It ought to be dumped wholesale. In Gujarat, I often spoke to the people of the wonderful taste of wine, which every European peasant enjoys a few bottles of everyday. I spoke of how healthy a drink beer is - and how micro-breweries ought to be freely established in every village, supplying fresh draught beer to the poor. I convinced all I spoke with, and I hope they will soon be fighting for the Liberty to pursue pleasure.

Finally, it must also be noted that pleasure is "subjective." Every Individual finds pleasure and happiness in his own mind, in things that please him. None can presume to dictate the pleasures of anyone else. Thus, Liberty is essential, so that each can pursue happiness in his own way.  In Human Action: A Treatise on Economics, Ludwig von Mises writes of how classical British political economy was philosophically rooted in Epicureanism:

The historical role of the theory of the division of labor as elaborated by British political economy from Hume to Ricardo consisted in the complete demolition of all metaphysical doctrines concerning the origin and the operation of social cooperation. It consummated the spiritual, moral and intellectual emancipation of mankind inaugurated by the philosophy of Epicureanism. It substituted an autonomous rational morality for the heteronomous and intuitionist ethics of older days. Law and legality, the moral code and social institutions are no longer revered as unfathomable decrees of Heaven. They are of human origin, and the only yardstick that must be applied to them is that of expediency with regard to human welfare. He does not ask a man to renounce his well-being for the benefit of society. He advises him to recognize what his rightly understood interests are. In his eyes God’s magnificence does not manifest itself in busy interference with sundry affairs of princes and politicians, but in endowing his creatures with reason and the urge toward the pursuit of happiness.

As I saw and wrote about Gandhi's Gujarat these days, the policy of alcohol prohibition is not based on "reason." Nor are these policies designed to promote happiness. Ultimately, public opinion is to blame. And public instruction as well. All the wrong philosophies are being taught. This is why tyranny rules - and not happiness. Or, indeed, civilisation itself has been lost. When tyranny rules, ruffians rule. Barbarians.