OMNIPOTENT GOVERNMENT The Rise of the Total State and Total War BY
Ludwig von Mises NEW HAVEN Tale University Press COPYRIGHT, 1944,
BY YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS Printed in the United States of America
First published, May, 1944 Second printing, February, 1945 Third
printing, May, 1945 All rights reserved. This book may not be
reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form except by reviewers
for the public press, without written permission from the
publishers. A WARTIME BOOK THIS COMPLETE EDITION IS PRODUCED IN
FULL COMPLIANCE WITH THE GOVERN MENTS REGULATIONS FOR CONSERVING
PAPER AND OTHER ESSENTIAL MATERIALS. Preface IN dealing with the
problems of social and economic policies, the social sciences
consider only one question whether the measures suggested are
really suited to bringing about the effects sought by their
authors, or whether they result in a state of affairs which from
the viewpoint of their supporters is even more undesirable than the
previous state which it was in tended to alter. The economist does
not substitute his own judg ment about the desirability of ultimate
ends for that of his fellow citizens. He merely asks whether the
ends sought by nations, gov ernments, political parties, and
pressure groups can indeed be at tained by the methods actually
chosen for their realization. It is, to be sure, a thankless task.
Most people are intolerant of any criticism of their social and
economic tenets. They do not understand that the objections raised
refer only to unsuitable methods and do not dispute the ultimate
ends of their efforts. They are not prepared to admit the
possibility that they might attain their ends more easily by
following the economists advice than bydisregarding it. They call
an enemy of their nation, race, or group anyone who ventures to
criticize their cherished policies. This stubborn dogmatism is
pernicious and one of the root causes of the present state of world
affairs. An economist who as serts that minimum wage rates are not
the appropriate means of raising the wage earners standard of
living is neither a labor baiter nor an enemy of the workers. On
the contrary, in suggesting more suitable methods for the
improvement of the wage earners material well-being, he contributes
as much as he can to a genuine promotion of their prosperity. To
point out the advantages which everybody derives from the working
of capitalism is not tantamount to defending the vested interests
of the capitalists. An economist who forty or fifty years ago
advocated the preservation of the system of private property and
free enterprise did not fight for the selfish class interests of
the then rich. He wanted a free hand left to those unknown among
his penniless contemporaries who had the ingenuity to develop all
those new industries which today render the life of the common man
more pleasant. Many pioneers of these industrial changes, it is
true, became rich. But they acquired their wealth by supplying the
public with motor cars, airplanes, radio sets, refrigerators,
moving and talking pictures, and a variety of less spectacular but
iv Omnipotent Government no less useful innovations. These new
products were certainly not an achievement of offices and
bureaucrats. Not a single technical improvement can be credited to
the Soviets. The best that the Russians have achieved was to copy
some of the improvements of the capitalists whom they continue
todisparage. Mankind has not reached the stage of ultimate
technological perfection. There is ample room for further progress
and for further improvement of the standards of living. The
creative and inventive spirit subsists notwithstanding all
assertions to the contrary. But it flourishes only where there is
economic freedom. Neither is an economist who demonstrates that a
nation let us call it Thule hurts its own essential interests in
its conduct of foreign-trade policies and in its dealing with
domestic minority groups, a foe of Thule and its people...
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