The fact throughout history is that whenever government dominates the economic affairs of its citizenry, a free society is eroded, then destroyed, and a minority government ensues. Personal liberty without economic liberty is an absolute contradiction; the one cannot exist without the other.-- William E. Simon
The Question:
Do you agree with Simon? Why or why not? Can we have personal liberty without economic liberty? And just what is economic liberty? They seem to have much more economic liberty (if one means some form of free markets, however restricted by the state) in China today, but personal liberty in terms of political dissent, well that's another story.
On local radio recently, some "conservative" jackass was crying about how there were all these unlicensed businesses on the streets around town, food vendors and other mobile merchants who were "unfairly" competing with established business, because these small-time sellers didn't bother with business licenses or collection of sales tax (good for them, in my anti-statist book!). So, he kept saying "They can't do that, and no matter how much they don't like it, it's the law!" never mentioning anything about a basic right to earn a living, or that it is in fact those "established" brick and mortar businesses who use the government to restrict competition and entry into the market by others that are the ones engaging in unfair behavior.
Well, screw the "law". And screw you, Mr. Phony Conservative who pretends to love freedom, but always manages to come down on the side of the state against the individual (whether in this, or the drug war, police powers, Border Patrol assholes and their illegal checkpoints, etc.) To hell with all conservatives! You statist jerks don't know the meaning of the word liberty.
The right to earn a living is a basic liberty, so yes, in that sense, economic liberty is essential.
I essentially agree.
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