Liberty in Peril: Democracy and Power in American History

Over time, the ideology of political “democracy”—the idea that the role of government is to carry out the “will of the people,” as revealed through majority rule—has displaced the ethics of liberty. This displacement has eroded individual rights systematically. Holcombe argues that economic and political systems are not separate entities but are intimately intertwined. The result is tension between democracy, liberty, a market economy, and the institutions of a free society.

 

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Bureaucracy

Mises summarizes the horrific results of implementing modern reform movements. “The champions of socialism call themselves progressives, but they recommend a system which is characterized by rigid observance of routine and by a resistance to every kind of improvement. They call themselves liberals, but they are intent upon abolishing liberty. They call themselves democrats, but they yearn for dictatorship.”

 

Clash of Group Interests

Mises lays out a theory of social organization in response to the Marxist critique of the free society. He explains why the Marxist clash of interest groups within the market order is wrong and what happens to competition in a Marxist marketplace.  What is the role of capital and labor and why is there such a struggle between a free society and the Marxist Garden of Eden.