The American people are becoming more and more afraid of, and are running away from, their own revolution. Leonard Read More Quotes by Leonard Read More Quotes From Leonard Read What precisely is this disease that causes inflation and all these other troubles? It has many popular names, such as socialism, communism, state interventionism, and welfare statism. Leonard Read disease causes names 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! Leonard Read editors artist teacher I can remember the time when, if we wanted a house or housing, we relied on private enterprise. In fact, Americans built more square feet of housing per person than any other country on the face of the earth. Despite that remarkable accomplishment, more and more people are coming to believe that the only way we can have adequate housing is to use government to take the earnings from some and give these earnings, in the form of housing, to others. Leonard Read feet believe country If the bureaucracy is not checked, it will tend to build, in the name of peace, a defense against every conceivable contingency - so much 'security' that 'the secured' are without resources - helpless and hopeless. Leonard Read hopeless defense names A fact rarely suspected, let alone understood, is that businessmen are by no means the chief beneficiaries of the free market, private ownership, limited government way of life. Many business ventures fail entirely. Who then are the beneficiaries? The masses! Leonard Read venture government mean The proper and limited use of government is to invoke a common justice and keep the peace - and that is all. Leonard Read liberty government justice There is no moral distinction between petty thievery and 'from each according to ability, to each according to need.' Leonard Read distinction moral needs 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 pressure-groups orbit political 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 liberty political creative If we remove the hope of profit as a means to alleviate misfortune - poverty, illness, misery, disaster - we shall increase our misfortunes and make them permanent. Leonard Read misery poverty mean Under both the welfare state and communism, the responsibility for the welfare, security, and prosperity of the people is presumed to rest with the central government. Leonard Read government responsibility people 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 regret creative men 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 restoration problem men I would like to suggest to you that the extent to which government in America has departed from the original design of in habiting the destructive actions of man and invoking a common justice; the extent to which government has invaded the productive and creative areas; the extent to which the government in this country has assumed the responsibility for the security, welfare, and prosperity of our people is a measure of the extent to which socialism has developed here in this land of ours. Leonard Read responsibility men country 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. Leonard Read gold moving needs Is it not obvious that the more complex an economy, the more certainly will governmental control of productive effort exert a retarding influence? Leonard Read economy effort influence The system of plunder derives much of its support from individuals who do not subscribe to socialism but who say, 'We're paying for it, so we might as well get our share' Leonard Read socialism support might No one has more than scratched the surface when it comes to understanding and explaining the miracle of the market. Leonard Read surface miracle understanding True, the free market ignores the poor precisely as it does not recognize the wealthy - it is 'no respecter of persons' Leonard Read free-market poor doe There is no greater dishonesty than man effecting his own private gains at the expense of others. Leonard Read dishonesty gains men