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The more complex our economy, the more we should rely on the miraculous, self-adapting processes of men acting freely. No mind of man nor any combination of minds can even envision, let alone intelligently control, the countless human energy exchanges in a simple society, to say nothing of a complex one.

Leonard Read

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Leonard Read
Age: 84 †
Born: 1898
Born: September 26
Died: 1983
Died: May 14
Businessperson
Economist
Philosopher
Writer
Hubbardston
Michigan
Leonard Edward Read
Leonard E. Read
Self
Acting
Rely
Exchanges
Even
Society
Complexes
Intelligently
Mind
Simple
Complex
Envision
Men
Process
Combination
Adapting
Energy
Minds
Countless
Human
Control
Miraculous
Humans
Economy
Processes
Nothing
Alone
Freely

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Is it not obvious that the more complex an economy, the more certainly will governmental control of productive effort exert a retarding influence?
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We need only take our heads out of the sand to see clearly that interventionism not only has failed to provide the promised something-for-nothing, but has led to all sorts of undesirable consequences. Indeed, many are just beginning to realize that we are moving towards disaster even though we have been on a wrong heading for decades.
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Insecurity must follow the transfer of responsibility from self to others, particularly when transferred to arbitrary and capricious government. Genuine security is a matter of self-responsibility, based on the right to the fruits of one's own labor and freedom to trade.
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Once an activity has been socialized, it is impossible to point out, by concrete example, how men in a free market could better conduct it. How, for instance, can one compare a socialized post office with private postal delivery when the latter has been outlawed?
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Politicians, bureaucrats, editors, new commentators, 'economists' teachers,' and other word artists who denounce private enterprise and praise socialism are their own worst enemies...these attackers are unwittingly destroying the sources of their own livelihood. They kill the geese that lay the golden eggs - and don't know it!
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The Constitution was definitely and specifically designed to hobble all people who are so foolish as to think themselves capable of leading others by compulsion. It so functions today to an extent exasperating to the authoritarians - which is why they want to get rid of it.
Leonard Read
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There could be no greater error than to conclude that statism caused prosperity.
Leonard Read
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Socialistic practices are now so ingrained in our thinking, so customary, so much a part of our mores, that we take them for granted.
Leonard Read
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Coercion is as much the tool of the welfare state as it is of communism. The programs and edicts of both are backed by the police force. All of us know this to be true under communism, but it is equally true under our own brand of welfare statism.
Leonard Read
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Such terms as communism, socialism, Fabianism, the welfare state, Nazism, fascism, state interventionism, egalitarianism, the planned economy, the New Deal, the Fair Deal, the New Frontier are simply different labels for much the same thing.
Leonard Read
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Statism, which forces all of us within its orbit, is nothing but a political system of organized plunder, managed by every conceivable type of pressure group.
Leonard Read
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The advancement of freedom is not a matter of who wields political power over creative actions rather, it depends upon the disassembling of such power.
Leonard Read
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The libertarian can have no truck with 'left' or 'right' because he regrets any form of authoritarianism - the use of police force to control the creative life of man.
Leonard Read
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In market terms, one is entitled to what others will offer in willing exchange. That is all!
Leonard Read
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The proper and limited use of government is to invoke a common justice and keep the peace - and that is all.
Leonard Read
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The solution to this problem [welfare-statism] must take a positive form: the restoration of a faith in what free men can accomplish.
Leonard Read
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Were it necessary to bring a majority into a comprehension of the libertarian philosophy, the cause of liberty would be utterly hopeless. Every significant movement in history has been led by one or just a few individuals with a small minority of energetic supporters.
Leonard Read
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...the greatest political problem facing the world today is...how to curb the oppressive power of government, how to keep it within reasonable bounds.
Leonard Read
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No one has more than scratched the surface when it comes to understanding and explaining the miracle of the market.
Leonard Read
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There is really nothing that can be done except by an individual. Only individuals can learn. Only individuals can think creatively. Only individuals can cooperate. Only individuals can combat statism.
Leonard Read