Economics Enthusiast

Ashesi University College
1 University Avenue

Berekuso - Eastern Region

1st May, 2014

Hello Reverend Kobby,

I am so grateful to God you are alive to read this. Wow! 50 years old and you have good health? I cannot wait to become you. I cannot wait to graduate from Ashesi University College. This school is trying to tear me apart with regular intensive assignments and projects. Nevertheless, I believe God will see me through.

Reverend, do you remember your viral video on YouTube, where you expressed your support for Modern Liberalism among other panelists who were conservatives, anarchists, fascists and communists? Regarding how people change with time, I wonder if you are still a modern liberal. Over the months, I have gained insight studying these political ideologies and I support modern liberalism most among the other ideologies.

For me, being an economics enthusiast, I subscribe to this Microeconomics principle of Gregory Mankiw: A rational person thinks at the margin and goes with a decision with the least marginal cost (Mankiw, 2011). For example, if all other things are equal and a biscuit at Shop A costs GH₵2 while that same biscuit at Shop B costs GH₵3, as a rational person, I would buy the biscuit from Shop A instead of Shop B. Applying this principle to all the political ideologies explains my support for modern liberalism because I believe modern liberalism in practice has the least marginal cost compared to socialism, anarchism and conservatism.

Reverend, I hope you still remember why modern liberalism developed. Let me refresh your memory for the sake of doubt. Modern liberalism came about in the twentieth century with the aim of correcting the flaws of classical liberalism. Even though the achieved aims of classical liberalism in the nineteenth century brought wealth for some individuals through industrial capitalism, it left many individuals in poverty, diseases and ignorance. These ills of social inequality became difficult to ignore as those in the working class were oppressed with demeaning living and working conditions, unemployment and low salaries. As injustice and inequality prevailed in civil society, modern liberals saw how flawed their view of the role of the State to a ‘minimal’ one was. Consequently, modern liberals advocated the role of the state as an interventionist to regulate capitalism so as to avoid any form of injustices in the society. This brought about attempts by many governments in the western states to provide welfare support for its citizens.(Heywood, 2012)

I believe everyone should have equal opportunity to make life decisions and choices. Hence, my support for social welfare. Reverend, I know you would definitely agree with me that it is unfair for individuals to be underprivileged by their social circumstances. Hence, the need for state intervention to remove or reduce such disadvantages. I therefore cannot agree much with John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice in which John supports the justification of social inequality only if it benefits the poorest in society. John puts it bluntly: ‘justice as fairness’ (Rawls, 1970).