We Are No Longer Living in a World of Laissez-Faire, Laissez-Passer; In the Utopia of the Old Liberals, the Government Concerns Itself with the Protection of Life, Health, and Private Property against Force or Fraud

But, unfortunately, we are no longer living in a world of laissez-faire, laissez-passer; in a world of free trade, private ownership, capitalism, and goodwill among the nations. Our world is very different, and in this world you cannot say that war is useless. It is not true that the individual citizen cannot derive any advantage from a victorious war.

In the utopia of the old liberals, the government concerns itself with the protection of life, health, and private property against force or fraud. The state ensures the smooth working of the market economy by the weight of its coercive power. It refrains, however, from any interference with the freedom of action of the people engaged in production and distribution so long as such actions do not involve the use of force or fraud against the life, health, or property of others. This very fact characterizes such a community as a market or capitalist economy. . . .

The optimism of Bentham, Cobden, and Bastiat was not justified. History went another way. Today we are living in a world of government interference with business and, in some countries, of socialism. There are everywhere trade barriers and migration barriers. In domestic policy, the governments are anxious to interfere in order to benefit some groups at the expense of other groups. “Nationalism” is the characteristic feature of modern foreign policy.

--Ludwig von Mises, The Political Economy of International Reform and Reconstruction, vol. 3 of Selected Writings of Ludwig von Mises, ed. Richard M. Ebeling (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2000), 4-5.