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… is from page 165 of the 1990 Transaction Publishers reprint of W.H. Hutt [2]‘s marvelous 1936 book, Economists and the Public [3]:
But the economic advance of peoples is not determined by parliaments…. [T]he voteless proletariat in Great Britain had been progressing during a period in which the State did little to promote their advantage apart from the unintentional service of leaving them alone.
Indeed.
Among the most pernicious myths that are still rampant today is the myth that says that the single most important possession for an individual to ensure prosperity and true freedom for herself and her family is the right to vote. And if each of the other adults who are members of the same group or class to which this person belongs also has the right to vote and is allowed to hear only those political messages that are approved by current holders of political power, all the better for this person and the other members of her group.
In fact, peace, prosperity, and freedom are more likely and more secure the greater and taller are the obstacles faced by government officials bent on interfering in individuals’ affairs – a fact that is true even if these same individuals as voters tolerate, or even invite, such interference.