Liberty and Property.pdf - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

Liberty and Property 21and capitalists, acquired the analogous powerin the field of government. He became a voter.It has been observed by eminent economists,I think first by the late Frank A. Fetter,that the market is a democracy in which everypenny gives a right to vote. It would be morecorrect to say that representative governmentby the people is an attempt to arrange constitutionalaffairs according to the model ofthe market, but this design can never be fullyachieved. In the political field it is alwaysthe will of the majority that prevails, andthe minorities must yield to it. It serves alsominorities, provided they are not so insignificantin number as to become negligible. Thegarment industry produces clothes not onlyfor normal people, but also for the stout, andthe publishing trade publishes not only westernsand detective stories for the crowd, butalso books for discriminating readers. Thereis a second important difference. In the politicalsphere, there is no means for an individualor a small group of individuals to disobeythe will of the majority. But in the intellectual