Collectivism and Constitutional Liberty

Abstract

Most of the current discussion of collectivism (by which is meant all varieties of a state controlled economy) tends to center upon the question of its efficiency. Advocates of "free, enterprise" have consistently depreciated the capacity of a socialized economy to produce goods as cheaply as a capitalist economy. But whether socialism is, or is not, conducive to an efficient economic order, it represents a political order in which power may become so concentrated as to bd a threat to liberty. It is quite true that this danger may easily be over emphasized. We know that an economic order in which state interference is reduced to a minimum certainly does not preserve liberty. Hence it cannot be inferred that liberty is in inverse proportion to the amount of government interference. Nor can it be inferred without reservations that power always corrupts.