The main idea of liberalism – the inviolability of “inalienable human rights” – is considered in a historical context, not as an eternal principle, but as a changing moral and legal norm. It is argued that the economic success of the West during the transition to capitalism is associated not so much with the expansion of human rights (the abolition of slavery and serfdom, guarantees of property rights and contracts), but with an increase in the rate of savings and investment resulting from the destruction of the community and growing inequality in income distribution. The expansion of human rights becomes a consequence of economic success, a kind of luxury that successful and competitive countries can afford. Later, however, the inability to curb these rights in a variety of areas (regulation of incomes and progressive taxation to cut income and wealth inequalities, limiting the greenhouse gas emissions, coping with populism in the media and in politics) breeds internal conflicts, reduces competitiveness as compared to societies that do not hesitate to limit the rights of individuals for the sake of the common good. Explanation is provided for the changes in the electoral base of right and left parties (Piketty, 2018) – immediately after the Second World War, left parties were supported mainly by the poor and uneducated, whereas today, on the contrary, more educated and wealthier are more leftist oriented. =============================== Главная идея либерализма – нерушимость прав человека – рассматривается в историческом контексте, не как вечный неизменный принцип, а как меняющаяся моральная и правовая норма. Доказывается, что экономический успех Запада при переходе к капитализму связан не столько с расширением прав человека (отмена рабства и крепостничества, гарантии прав собственности и контрактов), сколько с повышением нормы сбережений и инвестиций при разрушении общины и росте неравенства в распределении доходов. Расширение же прав человека становится следствием экономического успеха, своего рода роскошью, ...
