… is from page 298 of the 1990 Transaction Publishers reprint of W.H. Hutt‘s superb 1936 book, Economists and the Public:
Liberty, as manifested chiefly through the spirit of tolerance, is the supreme principle [of liberalism].
DBx: Yes.
Under liberalism – and because of the liberty it champions – there will, as a practical matter, necessarily be at any moment any number of ‘outcomes,’ ‘practices,’ ‘life-styles,’ and economic and social arrangements that displease many people, including liberals. But liberalism refuses to give credence to those persons who arrogantly insist that the world is defective, and must be ‘corrected,’ simply because the world doesn’t meet with those persons’ approval on every front and in every detail.
Liberalism is a philosophy for the mature, the humble, the patient, and, above all, the wise. You show me an opponent of liberalism – such as, for example, any of the so-called “scholars” who are hard at work trying to falsely discredit the name of W.H. Hutt – and I’ll show you a man or woman who does not meet one or more of these criteria. And in the case of the “scholars” attempting to portray Hutt as an illiberal racist, I’ll show you also someone who is either intellectually inept or dishonest.
