From the Notebooks
"The simple truth is that our businessmen do not want a government that will let business alone. They want a government they can use." Albert Jay Nock
I've been devouring libertarian books for about five years now (and for thirty years before that, I had dallied in them occasionally). This one truth by Nock is, in my opinion, the single truth that every pro-government program proponent--whether it's a representative of the Vatican or a flaming leftist that hates business--must contend with.
This truth needs to be combined with capitalism, which has proven beyond all doubt that it is the most efficient means of creating wealth. Even though capitalism has, undeniably, benefited the poorest in capitalist nations more than the richest, it has also resulted in gross wealth inequality. As a result, there are powerful, moneyed interests everywhere in capitalist-developed countries. Does anyone think it is possible to implement any government program that won't be tainted, indeed, utterly soiled, with big business interests? It isn't. And anyone who thinks it possible is, I fear, hopelessly naive.
