Part Four An Alliance of Freemen

PART FOUR An Alliance of Freemen The Liberation of Man JLHE market economy is a world economy of peaceful cooperation. It perishes when governments deny their citizens the liberty to do whatever they desire, according to their own plan and purpose. It disintegrates into heterogeneous national units when governments, in the name of national necessity and social justice, interfere with the operation of the market economy to bring about national divergencies in market and production structures. When the market economy perishes, both in domestic affairs and in international relations, peace among nations comes to an end. For only in a world without trade barriers and restrictions upon the liberty of man are there no incentives for war and aggression. Individual liberty constitutes the only basis for international peace and cooperation. While the system of individual liberty and laissez-faire is the only system in which peaceful coexistence of sovereign nations is possible, the systems of socialism and interventionism always create international conflicts. The government that prohibits importation of foreign goods in order to raise the price of domestic goods discriminates against and harms foreign producers; it creates a conflict. A government that nationalizes foreign investments, that blocks, depreciates, or destroys them in any way, creates international discord. A government that conducts policies of inflation and credit expansion, foreign exchange restrictions and allocations, import quotas and protective tariffs, creates international conflicts. The same is true with respect to trade and migration barriers which separate comparatively overpopulated countries from underpopulated countries, and richer nations from "have-not"