The Privatization of Roads and Highways - Ludwig von Mises Institute

An Interview with Walter Block 417
process of trying to obtaining it. That is, I am going to keep trying,
at exactly the same pace, no matter what the prospects are.
My reasoning has little to do with the likelihood of success. I do
it because I think it’s my moral obligation to do it, because I want
to pass onto the next generation the flag, or the torch or the banner
that’s been passed onto me, and because it is just so much fun.
However, you’ve asked me a civil question, so I suppose I
should take a hack at it. So, here goes. I’m a pessimist on the outlook
for liberty. I think humans are hard-wired, based on sociobiological
consideration, to be anti-freedom. We, as a species,
have lived for millions of years in groups of twenty to thirty in
caves and forests, where markets couldn’t, or anyway, didn’t
function. As a result, I contend, we are not biologically built to
appreciate markets. Every time I get a new freshman class, I have
to demonstrate to their utter amazement and consternation that
minimum wages don’t help the poor, that free trade does, that
markets, not welfare, help the poor, etc., etc. I think the reason for
this is not merely the TV programs they’ve seen, or children’s
books (for how, then, do we explain them?) but rather that our
species is biologically biased against economic freedom. It will
always be a hard slog to promote liberty. Looking back over history,
over the entire world, there are very few instances of freedom
we have had. Yes, two hundred years ago in the U.S. and
Great Britain; but these were aberrations. As social scientists, we
do not have to explain these statistical outliers; rather, we have to
account for the 99.99 percent of human history where freedom is
not an ideal. It is perhaps a testimony to the libertarian movement
that the freedom philosophy has rarely been stronger
throughout all of history, but in only a dozen or so countries.
What are the best means of attaining freedom? Well, I’m a
methodological individualist on this (as on most things). That is,
different strokes for different folks. Some will best be convinced
by folk songs, or movies, or novels (e.g., Atlas Shrugged). Some by
teachers and writers (my own comparative advantage, plus this
best suits my personality). Some by political parties, or by a move
to New Hampshire, or by setting up a new country.