A False Alternative: The Elderly or the Economy

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has caught a lot of backlash for comments he made this week on Tucker Carlson’s program. Patrick said,

My message is that let’s get back to work. Let’s get back to living. Let’s be smart about it. And those of us who are 70 plus, we’ll take care of ourselves. But don’t sacrifice the country.

No one reached out to me and said, as a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren? And if that’s the exchange, I’m all in.

Many interpreted Patrick’s remarks as advocating sacrificing older Americans for younger Americans. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo tweeted,

We will not put a dollar figure on human life. We can have a public health strategy that is consistent with an economic one. No one should be talking about social Darwinism for the sake of the stock market.

Gilberto Hinojosa, the chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, condemned Patrick’s similarly responded:

The lives of our families, our friends, and our communities have no dollar amount.

Patrick’s critics imply that we should sacrifice the economy in order to save lives. But they ignore the fact that shutting down production and trade comes with a very real cost. Millions have lost their jobs. Countless businesses have been closed, and many of them will never reopen. The consequences are going to cascade the longer production and trade is severely restricted.

But more importantly, Patrick did not advocate sacrificing the elderly. What he said was that he was willing to take the risks associated with reopening the economy, but he hasn’t been given that choice. Patrick gave voice to a choice that each individual should be free to make regarding his risk tolerance.

If an individual judges himself to be at high risk from the coronavirus, then he should probably self-isolate. But if he chooses otherwise, he should be free to act accordingly and accept the risks. However, when government shut down the economy, they removed such choices from individuals.

The backlash against Patrick is a direct consequence of altruism. Altruism holds that we have a moral duty to sacrifice for others. The only alternative, according to altruism, is for us to sacrifice others to ourselves. According to altruism, somebody must sacrifice, and the only question is who. But this is a false alternative.

Life does not require sacrifice. Individuals can trade and interact in ways that are mutually beneficial. You give your grocer money and he gives you food. Neither of you has to sacrifice. You give your mechanic money and he repairs your car. Neither of you has to sacrifice. When individuals are free to trade and interact voluntarily, nobody has to sacrifice.

But when government officials intervene and dictate the terms by which individuals can trade and interact, individuals are no longer free to act in ways that are mutually beneficial. They are forced to act in ways that they would not voluntarily choose. Someone is forced to sacrifice. Or, in the case of shutting down the economy, all of us are being forced to sacrifice.