Twenty Observations on Liberty and Society

"Cultures persist. You can install the best of the capitalist system, but if the people have a totalitarian culture, their polity will soon follow. Even if they individually do not like the state, their collective conduct will be such that a powerful state will emerge. They want freedom for themselves, but they also want to enslave others. The constitution and laws will be reinterpreted to suit their convenience. Judges and politicians will happily wag their tails. As Hayek would say, you cannot force institutions on a society."