Foreword

Let anything become valuable enough, or any name popular enough, and thieves will try to steal it. The name Liberal was made popular by a long line of British and American liberals from Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill to Herbert Spencer and John Morley in Britain, and from Thomas Jefferson and James Madison to Grover Cleveland in this country. These men all believed in the freedom of the individual and opposed the extension of government control. They made the name of liberal so popular that thieves are now trying to steal it and apply it to themselves, even when trying to extend the authority of government, which is the direct opposite of liberalism.

Leonard Read has made a brave attempt to rescue the word liberal from those who would prostitute it to base ends. I know of no more courageous crusader for individual liberty, or who is doing more to bring the word liberal back to its true meaning.

He is, of course, under no illusions as to the possibility of absolute liberty ever being attained among men who live together in large groups. Maximum liberty is what all liberals want. It means the minimum of restraint.

Restraint is of two kinds, physical and mental. Physical restraint consists of such things as walls, handcuffs and other such hindrances to physical motion. Mental restraint is mainly fear.

The kind of liberty which all liberals want is the minimum of fear. What is religious liberty except freedom from fear of persecution? What is freedom of speech or of the press except freedom from fear of punishment for one’s spoken or published opinions? Freedom of enterprise is freedom from fear of violence or fraud, which may be committed either by private criminals or political tyrants.

Pattern for Revolt comes like a breath of pure mountain air after one has inhaled for a long time the smoke and dust of political controversy with its smearing campaigns of misrepresentations, innuendo, and demagogic appeals. It throws expediency to the winds and does not compromise or give an inch of ground to sentimentality. It is a product of the intellect.

Probably every American has, at one time or another, dreamed of what he would do if he were president or, more particularly, what he would like someone else to do. Leonard Read has not only dreamed, but has set down in vigorous English the content of his dream. Imagining a true and uncompromising liberal to have been nominated, a man who actually preferred not to be in public office, Read, after presenting the political setting, begins with the kind of an acceptance speech he would expect to hear. This is followed by two campaign speeches, and an inaugural address, all on the same lofty, uncompromising level.

Needless to say, this book is not milk for babes. It is strong meat, probably too strong for stomachs that have long fed on government pap and can’t imagine how they can get along without it. To all such, my advice is, “Bite into it, chew and inwardly digest it. It can’t do you any harm and may do you some good.”

Thomas Nixon Carver