Ten or fifteen years ago it seemed as if the battle of ideas between free markets and the various alternatives had been settled in favour of free markets. It is now clear that the battle of ideas has not been won such battles never are. The forces that support
Many human institutions are the result of human action, but not of human design.
Adam Ferguson
Order has been a central preoccupation of political thinkers and philosophers throughout the ages. It is widely understood today as a state of harmony between people, or social peace. In the premodern era, however, the concept
For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one: to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his
Mr Kents grandson, then a schoolboy, was disturbed by the current fashion of disparaging the profit system. He had asked his grandfather to explain just how there can be a profit which is not taken from the work of someone else.
April 1942
Mr dear grandson:
I will answer your question as simply
The American Declaration of Independence demanded, using the idiom of the time, A government of laws and not of men. This concept is absolutely fundamental to a free society. There have to be restrictions on peoples freedom, but these must consist in rules, made in advance and accessible, telling people
