44.

Bungling Firemen

As an undergraduate, I read many articles by Leonard Read. I often found his insights valuable and unique. Every so often, I still go back and read one or two of his books in search of inspiration, as I did recently with his 1980 book Seeds of Progress (Read 1980). There, I found a fireman analogy I thought was worth sharing.

45.

How to Be a Benefactor—
Use the Invisible Hand

When people think of the word “ benefactor,” they tend to envisage charitable giving to help solve problems that beset others. But that image can be misleading: charity may not successfully solve the problem, and the role of a benefactor may involve more than charitable efforts.

46.

Look to the Stars

How can one effectively communicate the extent that coercion damages individuals and their relationships with one another? Leonard Read often uses analogies for the impact that images can have on the reader. Sometimes he makes an analogy to a closed fist to show how much less it can accomplish than an open hand. Sometimes he puts a gun, the ultimate tool of enforcement, in that fist.

47.

To Avarice No Sanction

“No point in the field of political economy merits more thought and analysis than where to draw the line distinguishing the functions proper to government from the role assumed by all-out government—socialism. A good society is but a dream unless this issue be reasonably resolved.” That is how Leonard Read opens his “ To Avarice No Sanction,” from his 1972 book To Free or Freeze: That Is the Question (Read 1972a).

48.

From “I Don’t Know” to “I, Pencil”

49.

Distinguishing Chaos
from Incomprehensible Order

Many people make New Year’s resolutions to improve their lives. Most involve rectifying perceived errors, mistakes, and failings in their personal lives. But making resolutions to overcome mistakes in our understanding of society, and the policies the mistakes lead to, could also be productive.

50.

The More Complex the Society, the Less
Government Control We Need

Americans live in a complex world. Those who argue for more statism often claim that the more complex the society, the more government control we need. They assert that even if liberty was appropriate in a horse-and-buggy age (when, for example, America began as a country), it cannot possibly be so now.

51.

The Mystery of Social Order

Order and chaos have long served as polar opposites guiding people’s views of their circumstances. For instance, I have read that order versus chaos— which also represented justice versus injustice—was the primary division in ancient Egyptian religion. Much more recently, Henry Adams wrote, “Chaos was the law of nature; order was the dream of man” (Adams 1918).

52.

Complexity and Consumer Interest

Two of the most common errors in economic policy are the beliefs that the interests of some should supplant those of others and that an increasingly complex society requires expanding government control.

53.

Fear of Freedom or Trusting Yourself

Virtually everyone claims to prefer freedom but in practice makes many exceptions.

International trade is a good example. We want free trade for selling our output, deciding how to produce that output, and for those who would like to sell to us. Such exchanges earn us higher sale prices and provide us lower costs. But we also support restrictions on competitors because they also benefit us. Our support for coercive action, given when it will line our pockets, contradicts our support for free trade.