Lew RockwellLew Rockwell, [Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.] (1944- ) Chairman of the Ludwig von Mises Institute

Lew Rockwell Quote

“Anything other than free enterprise always means a society of compulsion and lower living standards, and any form of socialism strictly enforced means dictatorship and the total state.  That this statement is still widely disputed only illustrates the degree to which malignant fantasy can capture the imagination of intellectuals.”

Lew RockwellLew Rockwell
~ Lew Rockwell

September 11 and the Anti-Capitalistic Mentality: An Interview with Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr
By: Myles Kantor, FrontPageMagazine.com | Tuesday, March 12, 2002
http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=24253

Ratings and Comments


Mike, Norwalk

The first sentence's focus is an accurate observation of a lawful status. The second sentence accurately observes the consequences of a specifically accepted and applied religious belief.

jim k, Austin, Tx

I love his term,"malignant fantasy". This probably describes the attitude of most of the liberal professors in our universities today.

Mann, Kalamazoo

What about the 'free enterprise' capitalism insisted on via "Kirtsaeng v. Wiley", a current case before SCOTUS? Regarding certain retail products, plaintiffs are insisting the SELLER retains rights to monetary proceeds, should the original BUYER choose to RE-SELL the purchased article at a later date. "Anything other than free enterprise always means ... ", is Rockwell's first in a series of absolutes that fail miserably in terms of real applied economy, and governance, at any level. Insistence that personal profit, always the driving force behind "free enterprise", outweighs every other consideration in affairs of human advancement, strikes me as being plainly absurd. It renders life's meaning into the single pursuit of money - instead of using money to pursue meaning in life. No thanks, Lew.

Mike, Norwalk

Mann, FYI, "free enterprise" is a multi-definitive department or section of law and justice, describing eternally established sub-categories of law such as fiscal law, laws of nature (including criminal law covering an injured party), etc. In and of itself, "free enterprise" has nothing to do with a driving force. You are confusing law with emotion and human foibles. Further, driving force associations (not behind but, acting under color of "free enterprise") are less than otherwise insistent on personal profit (the common laborer for example agrees to an equal exchange = trading an established quantity and quality of labor for a monetary equivalent - laissez-faire capitalism would be that laborer's excess monetary exchange, after necessities and life style have been cared for, invested elsewhere for a personally unearned increase - profit. A sole proprietor, partnership, etc. in corporate form or otherwise exists as this example's single laborer), and almost never outweighs every other consideration in the affairs of human advancement. Your defining law as human frailties is absurd. What you have described as "free enterprise" is a false dogma perpetrated by a malignant theology. "Free enterprise" is inclusive of the ability to use what ever sources are available, including money, to pursue meaning(s) in life, or not, or the pursuit of money uniquely.

E Archer, NYC

It perhaps gets a little cloudy when it comes to copyrights, but the tendency to over-regulate intellectual property makes the trade less 'free'. Free trade, laissez-faire capitalism is only really in practice when two individuals trade between themselves without liens or encumbrances. The rest is someone's desire to control/tax others.

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