This was a dense book that covered several topics. It is also a valuable look at liberty from an economist’s point of view. At times it seemed quite insightful and at other times it seemed fairly intuitive.
Hayek does a great job of showing the reader that liberty and a favorable outcome are not guaranteed. He states:
“Above all however, we must recognize that we may be free and yet miserable. Liberty does not mean all good things or the absence of all evils. It is true that to be free may mean freedom to starve, to make costly mistakes, or to run mortal risks.”
He continues in a similar fashion when he states:
“Freedom granted only when it is known beforehand that it’s effects will be beneficial is not freedom. If we knew how freedom would be used the case for it would largely disappear. We shall never get the benefits of freedom, never obtain those unforeseable new developments for which it provides the opportunity if it is not also granted where the uses made of it by some do not seem desirable. It is therefore no argument against individual freedom that it is frequently abused. Freedom necessarily means that many things will be done which we do not like.”
After outlining what liberty is Hayek shows the importance of liberty in action. There are chapters addressing issues such as constitutionalism, centralized power, and the rule of law.
Hayek goes into great depth on a number of policy issues such as housing, labor unions, taxation, employment, inflation, education, the welfare state, and much more.
As an example of his analysis on the administrative state Hayek notes:
“If anything has been demonstrated by modern experience in these matters it is that once wide coercive powers are given to governmental agencies for particular purposes such powers cannot be effectively controlled by democratic assemblies; if the latter do not themselves determine the means to be employed the decisions of their agents will be more or less arbitrary.”
Hayek provides a wealth of information in this book and it provides ample room for thought. It is a must read for understanding liberty from an economist’s viewpoint.
Overall I give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars.
William Wilberforce has been called an agitator for his commitment to ending the slave trade. One of his well known speeches on the subject was given on May 12, 1789.
Cardinal Richelieu has been hailed as a great statesman and as a subversive authoritarian. Depending on who you talk to he was a man needed to strengthen the monarchy in France, or he was a tyrant seeking personal power. Next week I will have a book review that may shed more light on Cardinal Richelieu.
When Lenin was working on his major writing projects he would often pace across the room formulating the ideas that he would write down by saying them out loud. Once he had the idea for what he wanted to write he would often repeat the idea to Nadezhda Krupskaya, who would provide feedback. Once this process was complete he would then write the ideas down.
Here is an AI rendering of what that might have looked like when he was drafting What is to be Done.
This month this community will focus on political subversion. What is subversion? When is it justified? What is the interplay between subversion and agitation? These are some of the topics to be discussed this month.
“You get used to the despot’s shortcomings, when they are not great vices, and the change of an autocratic ruler leads to involuntary fear.”
Sergei Trubetskoi
