Sunday, October 07, 2007

Quote of the Day

Winston Churchill speaking at the Dundee by-election in 1908:

Socialism seeks to pull down wealth. Liberalism seeks to raise up poverty... socialism would kill enterprise; liberalism would rescue enterprise from the trammels of privilege and preference. Socialism assails the pre-eminence of the individual; Liberalism seeks, and shall seek in the future, to build up a minimum standard for the mass.
Thanks to the Adam Smith Institute Blog.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The question is: Which one do the Lib Dems of the day support?

Jock Coats said...

I prefer his more simple defense of liberalism versus socialism...

"Socialism is against capital; liberalism is against monopoly"

Anonymous said...

Jock Coats, you are oversimplifying. Liberalism is of course for the state monopoly of legislation and force. And if a monopoly doesn't violate the rights of individuals, liberalism might not have per se anything against it. (It's another matter, if there can be a monopoly that doesn't violate the rights of individual.) But what liberalism is really against is coercion.