Freedom, Society, and State - Ludwig von Mises Institute

spons i b iIi ty .of insuring everyone a "social minimum."
And finally there would be a "distribution branch"
whose task would be "to preserve an approximate justice
in distributive shares by means of taxation and the
necessary adjustments in the rights of property."(57)
What is of concern here is not so much the size of
the s tat e 0 r the pa r ticu 1a r act i v i tiesit wo u 1dunder ­
take as the realization that if justice can be shown to
mandate a particular pattern of wealth distribution,
thenthestate, wh i c h the pa t t ernedthe 0 ryen t a i Is, i s
ipso facto, justified.
8. CONCLUSION
The above br i ef survey certainly makes no claims
t 0 compIe ten e s s • Nomen t ion wa s rna de 0 fAr i s tot 1e 0 r
St. Augustine, Burke or Hegel. But the survey did
pre sen t a va r i e t y 0 far g ume n t s for go ve r nme n t from a
variety of viewpoints:
1. The "common good" argument of Plato,
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Jacques
Ma r ita i nth a taIlor mos t 0 f the compon
e n t s 0 f the "g 0 0 d 1 i f e" r eq u ire conscious
direction and coordination and
thus presuppose the state;
2. The "necessity" argument of Thomas
Hobbes that while not all of the benefits
of society presuppose the state,
the y d 0 presupp0 s e 0 r de r wh i c h, i n t urn,
presupposes the state;
3. The" convenience" argument of John Locke
that while order doesn't necessarily
presuppose the state, the state does
render the natural social order more
stable;
4. The "natural rights" argument of Herbert
Spencer that the state is, if not
necessary, at least justified provided
i tis 1 i mitedt 0 the pro t e c t ion 0 f rna n ' s
rights of "life, liberty and propertyll;
5. The llmodern util.itarian" argument of
Gordon Tullock and others that the state
i s n e c e s s a r y t 0 suppIemen t the s h 0 r t comings
of the market in two crucial areas,
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