Leonard E. Read, author of numerous articles, has written the following books:

Romance of Reality (o.p.)

Pattern for Revolt

Students of Liberty

Outlook for Freedom

Government: An Ideal Concept

Governo Urn Concito Ideal

Why Not Try Freedom?

¿Por Que No Ensayar la Libertad?

Elements of Libertarian Leadership

Anything That’s Peaceful

Todo Por la Paz

The Free Market and Its Enemy

To Ludwig von Mises

If given power over others, he would abdicate.

When experience is not retained . . . infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

—Santayana

The story is told of the minister and his spirited young filly which a wealthy fancier wanted for his stables. They proceeded to the track to check the filly’s capabilities. When the prospective purchaser mounted and gave the usual “Giddap,” there was no response.

“What makes her go?” he asked.

The minister explained his habit of praying as he rode, and gave the filly the command: “Praise the Lord!” She promptly circled the track at a fast clip, but then failed to stop when the rider said, “Whoa.”

THE POLLUTION PROBLEM

Pollution is but a sampling of the problems into which we have collectivized ourselves. But it is serious enough to be of grave concern.

Why are people so disturbed about pollution of air and water? It is not simply because they have become more refined and aesthetic, but because they begin to realize that we have reached a critical point in human habitation of the earth.

A ROLE FOR RATIONALITY1

The characteristic that most significantly distinguishes man from other organisms is his ability rationally to will his own actions. Admittedly, this is only a budding ability, a rarer achievement than generally believed.

LET’S BE PHILOSOPHERS

We can gain in self-controlled, rational activity only as we become what I call philosophers. Viewing ourselves in this role brings forth a few more thoughts about why the overall luminosity—Creative Wisdom—brightens among free men.

Tradition has it that philosophy is a discipline reserved for rare souls with brilliant minds and an esoteric bent. I propose a break with this tradition: let’s all be philosophers! We can begin by understanding what philosophy embraces in its most meaningful sense.

YOU CAN’T TRANSPLANT A FACULTY

The preceding chapter makes the claim that “all forms of authoritarianism are pompous nonsense.” This seems self-evident to anyone who grasps the unimaginable content of the over-all luminosity and the infinitesimal part any discrete individual has or can have in its composition. There is, however, another way to demonstrate the utter fallacy of authoritarianism in the absence of which freedom reigns.

THE MIRACLE OF A MEAL

I like to emphasize again and again the common and careless inclination to take our blessings for granted, and why we should not do so. Miracles of the free market abound in our daily experiences but, short of an appreciation of what accounts for our affluent existence, we’ll do nothing to preserve the miraculous process; we’ll let it go by default!