Essays on Liberty

Summary 

The birth of modern government system began with two simple principles: one is government is to protect one citizen from being abused by another citizen. Two is government is to protect itself from abusing citizens. The first principle requires that government sets up laws to protect property rights of all citizens. The second principle requires that government assigns limited roles to itself and there be clear laws specifying that the government cannot do specific actions such as taxes on this or that. That is government should be small. As a matter of fact, the war for independence began with the British government charged too high tax on American colony. 

Current U.S governments are far from being small and more principles, in addition to the simple two, are implicitly included. Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, those social programs are added to the government spending, which eventually requires higher and higher taxation.

"Paul wants some of Peter's property. For moral as well as legal reasons, Paul is unable personally to accomplish this desire. Paul therefore persuades government to tax Peter in order to provide funds with which the government pays Paul a 'subsidy'. Paul now has what he wanted. His conscience is clear and he has proceeded 'according to law."

Does it change the situation if it is the government that persuades Paul to vote them in exchange for the subsidy?

Set your principles first, then degree. 

Who should read it

This book is a collection of essays by freedom lovers, some may call it libertarian or classical liberal (because it is the original sense of liberty in its creation). For Cambodians, and other people from developing countries, I believe it is crucial to understand the concept of liberty.  Because liberty refers to the freedom you would get from the rule of law, it is far from what most people in developing countries misunderstand. Currently, governments in developed countries differ in  degree of their belief in the principles of liberty. More and more taxes are imposed on citizens.

It is a good beginning for those who are interested in the principle of the rule of law, democratic government and free market economy. Those who are familiar with example of minimum wages, labor union rigor in socialist countries in Europe may find these essays disturbing. Keynesian economists, as prominent as Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz, may find these essays archaic. 

Authors: Henry Hazlitt, James Madison, Ludwig Ludwig von Mises, et al.
Publisher: Foundation for Economic Education, July 3, 2013.
My rating: 4.5/5