"The great tragedy of the drive to centralization, as of the drive to extend the scope of government in general, is that it is mostly led by men of good will who will be the first to rue its consequences."
Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom, 1962
By men of good will, Friedman is referring to the modern day liberal, not to be confused with classic liberals such as Adam Smith and John Locke who both saw government as something to be let out of its cage only under the strictest of supervision. Friedman is correctly implicating the current tendencies of Western governments to treat its citizens as a master would treat a favored pet. Rewards, condescension and firm but gentle admonitions characterize the demeanor with which a supposed free man is approached by his government. A democratic government exists primarily to assure that a free man will remain just that: free to trade and enter into contracts, free from perils both domestic and external and free to convert his labor into whichever form of consumption he chooses within the laws of good conscience and reason.
When a government institutes a direct tax on those it serves, there are certain questions that need to be addressed. Is an inefficient, distended government capable of exercising the same restraint and care that a private citizen would over the fruit of his own labors? Is this same government as interested in an individual's freedom as it is in growing its own power? In the case of the American government, I would have to unfortunately answer no on both issues: the current trends in governance come as a result of a constant and increasingly irresponsible drift away from the solemn promises promulgated and recorded by the founders of this great experiment in freedom. As the government grows the individual must shrink.
Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom, 1962
By men of good will, Friedman is referring to the modern day liberal, not to be confused with classic liberals such as Adam Smith and John Locke who both saw government as something to be let out of its cage only under the strictest of supervision. Friedman is correctly implicating the current tendencies of Western governments to treat its citizens as a master would treat a favored pet. Rewards, condescension and firm but gentle admonitions characterize the demeanor with which a supposed free man is approached by his government. A democratic government exists primarily to assure that a free man will remain just that: free to trade and enter into contracts, free from perils both domestic and external and free to convert his labor into whichever form of consumption he chooses within the laws of good conscience and reason.
When a government institutes a direct tax on those it serves, there are certain questions that need to be addressed. Is an inefficient, distended government capable of exercising the same restraint and care that a private citizen would over the fruit of his own labors? Is this same government as interested in an individual's freedom as it is in growing its own power? In the case of the American government, I would have to unfortunately answer no on both issues: the current trends in governance come as a result of a constant and increasingly irresponsible drift away from the solemn promises promulgated and recorded by the founders of this great experiment in freedom. As the government grows the individual must shrink.
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