Capitalism and Freedom

The most free society is the least coercive or coerced.

The anarchists are right.

But people form coercive associations spontaneously, from street gangs to pressure groups to security firms to armies and states.

And Libertarians are right there with everyone else insisting on government power to defend property, private ownership, and the market economy.

Their claim that, for them, liberty is the unique political/social value that outweighs all conflicting considerations, is absurd.

For them, the overarching value is capitalism, an economy resting on private property rights and the market, both restricted as little as possible and strengthened to the maximum, with conflicts of interest between property and labor, and consumers, and the public at large resolved in favor of property.

Reading Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom.