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Inclined to Liberty
Title Page
INCLINED TO
Liberty
THE FUTILE ATTEMPT TO SUPPRESS THE HUMAN SPIRIT
LOUIS E. CARABINI
Copyright Page
All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles. For information write: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 518 West Magnolia Avenue, Auburn, Alabama 36832; mises.org.
Copyright © 2008 by the Ludwig von Mises Institute
ISBN: 978-1-933550-29-9
Dedication
TO ALL WHO OWED ME NOTHING
AND GAVE ME EVERYTHING
Introduction
IN THE FALL OF 2004, I had the pleasure of hosting several guests for a dinner party at my home, including a few professors from our local university. One professor I had never met, and another I’d encountered only briefly at a lecture he had given on Immanuel Kant. A friend of mine, who also was at the dinner that evening, knew both guests well, and had, in fact, warned me that they were sympathetic to socialism, and even Marxism.
1. Why Write this Book?
WHILE WRITING THIS BOOK, I often asked myself, “Why write this at all? Will I come up with such an unusual view and explanation of that view that someone with a socialist bent will, after reading it, suddenly exclaim, ‘Oh! Now I concur’?” Hardly! Writing may not gain advocates, but it does help to codify one’s own thoughts and beliefs, and that alone is rewarding.
2. The Propositions of that Evening
SOME OF THE PROPOSITIONS offered during that lively evening were:
“No one should be allowed to own a yacht.”
“The salaries of company executives are too high.”
“No one should be allowed to inherit wealth.”
But the statement that I found most intriguing, and the one that initially drove me to write, was:
“It is not fair that companies can terminate their workers just to increase profits.”
3. Blame and Resentment
BENEATH THIS NOTION OF unfairness and the obligation to right it are the implications of fault and contempt. There is an unspoken, but very real, contempt for the rich yacht owner, contempt for the factory owner, contempt for the executive—in other words, a general contempt for wealthy people. Today, there is an outpouring of contempt in the media for the drug companies, the oil companies, and the Wal-Marts of the world.
4. In a World of Inequality, Are There Really Villains and Victims?
IN A WORLD IN which economic inequalities are universal, why do so many envision the existence of villains and victims? Does this view stem from a belief that there is a static quantity of wealth or resources in the world, and when someone gets more than an equal share, someone else must receive less? Or does the view stem from a belief that rich people have garnered their wealth undeservingly, by unscrupulous, greedy, or inconsiderate behavior?
