We hear incessantly about how we must protect “our democracy” and why ensuring that as many people as possible vote is a national imperative. At the same time, prominent politicians such as Joe Biden mock the importance of liberty as though it were just an atavistic impulse.
Pepperdine University economics professor Gary Galles offers his thoughts on liberty and democracy in this AIER essay.
He argues correctly that liberty, not democracy, is our core value. Galles concludes that “a maximum of democracy means a minimum of reliable protection for citizens’ rights, which in turn means a minimum of liberty.” True.
Statists like Biden are happy to take away aspects of liberty that they don’t personally care about, such as whether or not to submit to a vaccination. Now if the government decided to forbid consumption of ice-cream cones . . .