Free To Choose

“The combination of economic and political freedom produced a golden age in both Great Britain and the United States in the nineteenth century. The United States prospered even more than Britain. It started with a clean slate: fewer vestiges of class and status; fewer government restraints; a more fertile field for energy, drive, and innovation; and an empty continent to conquer.” 

America begins its experiment in liberty unencumbered by the encrusted political structures and attitudes of its parent country. This gives it a free hand to establish institutions that protect personal liberty, and citizens use that freedom to innovate and build a prosperous society.

“To Smith and Jefferson, government’s role was as an umpire, not a participant.”

The purpose of government, to economist Adam Smith and statesman Thomas Jefferson, is not to interfere with the lives of people but to protect them from usurpation. To that end, governments may adjudicate disputes that might otherwise spill into open conflict. Otherwise, governments should stay out of people’s affairs. 

“The view that government’s role is to serve as an umpire to prevent individuals from coercing one another was replaced by the view that government’s role is to serve as a parent charged with the duty of coercing some to aid others.”

Beginning with the Great Depression, the American view of government’s purpose shifts from protector to parent. No longer are people responsible for the repair of their economic problems, but instead others are required to provide assistance.