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Bonus Quotation of the Day…

… is from page 128 of my late, great colleague Walter Williams’s 1989 book, South Africa’s War Against Capitalism:

It is precisely these socialistic features of South African society that constitute the most important source of blacks’ grievances. To make this assertion more concrete, the author wishes to relate an experience that he had at the University of the North – a black university near Pietersburg – during a ten-week lecture tour in 1980. During the discussion period that followed the lecture, a black student rose to announce that he was against capitalism and believed in socialism. The author proceeded to ask this young man a series of questions: (1) Do you believe that you ought to be free to purchase property whenever you please, without government interference? (2) Do you believe that you ought to be free to start up any kind of business whenever you want, without government interference? (3) Do you believe that you ought to be free to work for any employer in any capacity commensurate with your skills, under mutually agreeable terms, without government interference? After the student answered yes to these and several similar questions, the author informed the student that his sentiments were actually closer to laissez faire capitalism than to socialism. The author went on to explain that it was the socialistic features – the extensive government control – of South African society that were the chief sources of black suffering.

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