If one rejects laissez faire on account of mans fallibility and moral weakness, one must for the same reason also reject every kind of government action. -- Planning for Freedom, p. 44
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Mises argues that if you reject free markets because humans are flawed, you must also reject all government action for the same reason.
- In plain terms
- If humans are too flawed for free markets, they are too flawed for government too.
- What can you take from it?
- Rejecting free markets due to human flaws means rejecting all government too.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Are humans too flawed for any system?
- Can government correct human flaws better than markets?
Another view
Some argue government is designed to correct market flaws, not rely on human perfection.
More from Ludwig von Mises
The main political problem is how to prevent the police power from becoming tyrannical. This is the meaning of all the struggles for liberty.
Permalink to quote #2 As society is only possible if everyone, while living his own life, at the same time helps others to live; if every individual is simultaneously means and end;…
Permalink to quote #3 The philosophy called individualism is a philosophy of social cooperation and the progressive intensification of the social nexus.
Permalink to quote #4
Related quotes
The existence of a free market does not of course eliminate the need for government. On the contrary, government is essential both as a forum for determining t…
Milton FriedmanMilton Friedman quote #29 Derangement is the signature expression of the Great Backlash, a style of conservatism that first came snarling onto the national stage in response to the part…
Thomas FrankThomas Frank quote #1 A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.
Alexander HamiltonAlexander Hamilton quote #1