| What is felt,
however, by large sections is that while regulation is necessary, the economy resulting
from it should be so designed as not to stifle individual liberty and individual
initiative and kill the sense of joy which issues out of the exercise of that liberty and
initiative. Some have no hope of this reconciliation and deny its possibility. But others stoutly maintain that it is quite possible and that there
is an economy that can combine the necessary overall regulation with the basic freedom of
the individual. There is so much joy in individual initiative that it is worthwhile to
make an attempt to find a solution which will preserve it, if not wholly, at least in
great part, while imposing regulation in the interest of the community.
It is never good to give up the battle for freedom as lost.
Whichever view may ultimately turn out to be true, one thing is certain, that the pain of
a regulated economy is due to the fact that regulation comes from outside, imposed by an
external authority. Not only does this compulsion by external authority create pain, but
also it prejudicially affects the working efficiency of regulation itself. |
