Battle4Liberty

I’ve been rereading F.A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom lately. I count Hayek as one of the most brilliant economists of the last century. If you haven’t read the book, I highly recommend it. If you have, considering reading it again. Hayek was a great writer, and some of the quotations from the book just can’t get any better. Here is a real gem:

“[Competition is] superior not only because it is in most circumstances the most efficient method known but even more because it is the only method by which our activities can be adjusted to each other without coercive or arbitrary intervention of authority.”

Adam Smith’s seminal work, The Wealth of Nations, argued for capitalism primarily on practical grounds; capitalism is the best system because it delivers the most benefit to the most people. Many collectivists have challenged Smith’s practical defense over the years, but today most acknowledge the simple reality that capitalism works. Given the demise of the USSR, China’s economic changes, and present conditions in Cuba and North Korea, the economic vitality of collectivism can hardly be defended. Most socialists now call for a “middle ground” between capitalism and socialism. Some call it “managed capitalism” or “planned competition.” Both are oxymorons.

Hayek concurred with Smith, but argued against a middle ground on the grounds of morality and liberty. Collectivism always leads to coercion or arbitrary government intervention. You can’t have political freedom without economic freedom, and the middle ground ultimately deprives you of both. It can’t be implemented without a government official telling you what kind of car you can drive, where you can and cannot work, how much you can make, how much you must pay your employees, and how much you must pay for their healthcare.

Capitalism values individual liberty. Socialism sacrifices liberty for the collective. You can’t have both.