自由选择

IntroductionAdam Smith's key insight was that both parties to an exchange can benefit and that, so long as cooperation is strictly voluntary, no exchange will take place unless both parties do benefit.By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.“ "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."Economic freedom is an essential requisite for political freedom....The combination of economic and political power in the same hands is a sure recipe for tyranny.To Smith and Jefferson, government's role was as an umpire, not a participant. Jefferson's ideal, as he expressed it in his first inaugural address (1801) , was "[a] wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement."The experience of recent years—slowing growth and declining productivity—raises a doubt whether private ingenuity can continue to overcome the deadening effects of government control if we continue to grant ever more power to government, to authorize a "new class" of civil servants to spend ever larger fractions of our income supposedly on our behalf. Sooner or later—and perhaps sooner than many of us expect—an ever bigger government would destroy both the prosperity that we owe to the free market and the human freedom proclaimed so eloquently in the Declaration of Independence.

具有讽刺意味的是，正是经济自由和政治自由的成功，减少了它对后来的思想家们的吸引力。十九世纪后期的政府受到严格限制，集权甚少，不危及老百姓。但另一方面，它的权力也很少，使好人做不了好事。在一个并非尽善尽美的世界上，还有许多罪恶。的确，正是社会的进步使残余的罪恶显得更加可恶可憎。象往常一样，人们认为事情必然会向好的方向发展。他们忘记了一个强大的政府对自由的威胁，心里想的只是更为强大的政府所能做的好事，认为只要权力掌握在“好人”手里，政府就会做好事。

人们本来是出于好意，是为了增进自身的利益。但现在即便是最起劲地鼓吹福利国家的人也不得不承认，结果是令人失望的。在政府活动的领域，正如在市场中一样，也有一只看不见的手，但它的作用正好同斯密的那只手相反：一个人如果一心想通过增加政府的干预来为公众利益服务，那他将“受一只看不见的手的指引，去增进同他的盘算不相干的”私人利益。这一结论将在本书一些章节考察政府行使权力的那些领域时得到一次又一次的证明。无论是建立安全（第四章）或平等（第五章），或是促进教育（第六章），保护消费者（第七章）或工人（第八章），还是防止通货膨胀和促进就业（第九章），总之，在政府行使权力的一切领域，都证明了这一点。

近来的经历——经济增长缓慢，生产率下降——向人们提出了这样的疑问：如果我们继续把越来越多的权力交给政府，继续把权力授给公务人员这样一个“新的阶级”，让他们代表我们花费越来越多的收入，那么，个人的独创性是否还能客服政府控制的麻痹作用。一个日益强大的政府迟早将摧毁自由市场给我们带来的繁荣，摧毁独立宣言庄严宣布的个人自由。这一天的到来，也许比我们许多人预料的要早。