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… is from page 37 of Steven Landsburg’s superb and hot-off-the-press The Essential Milton Friedman [2] (original emphasis):
The reason capitalist societies have a chance of achieving political freedom is that in capitalist societies, economic power is dispersed. There’s always someone else to appeal to.
DBx: This point is one that Friedman brilliantly emphasized in his 1962 book, Capitalism and Freedom [3]. This point is also made by Hayek in The Road to Serfdom [4]. And of course, when Steve writes that “There’s always someone else to appeal to,” he – echoing Friedman and Hayek – refers to suppliers of the inputs necessary to exercise such freedoms as those of speech, the press, and assembly.
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Steve’s volume is the latest in the Fraser Institute [5]’s Essential Scholars series [6]. Do check out the wide range of resources [2] available with Steve’s book.