Freedom, Society, and State - Ludwig von Mises Institute

tal of nations, and of ages ••• Prejudice
renders a man.'s virtue,·his habit; and not a
series of unconnected acts. Through just
prejudice, his duty becomes a part of his
na t ur e • ( 109 )
One of the conservative traditions is the reluctance
to rely on the government to solve social evils.
Hence, conservatives opt for a limited government and a
generally laissez faire economic system. But not only
dot hey not 0 p P 0 set h e use 0 f for c e toprot e c t thos e
"true values" that are viewed as necessary to maintain
the social order, they feeIi t ' s one's duty to use force
for such ends. Thus, force is advocated against such
things as pornography, prostitution, labor unions, communism,
and the like. Another fact of conservatism is
that it consciously eschews delineating a positive program,
wh i ch it condemns as abs tract theorizing. Instead,
its overriding characteristic is its resistance
to "the enemies of the permanent things."(IIO) The most
feared enemy is communism. The Conservatives feel that
it is man's moral duty to oppose communism by any means
necessary and therefore advocate the use of government
coercion on this regard. "The communists," argues noted
conservative writer, James Burnham, "are serious and••
• are irrevocably fixed on their goal of a monopoly of
world power • Because the communists are serious,
they will have to be stopped ••• by superior power and
will. Just possibly we shall not have to die in large
numbers to stop them; but we shall certainly have to be
willing to die."(lll)
But, as has often been pointed out by their critics,
conservatives place themselves in a serious dilemma.
First, while they are in general opposed to government
power and endorse a market economy, their willingn
esst 0 use go v ernmen t for ce toprot e c t "the pe r rna nen t
t h i n g s ," nee e s sitate s res t rict ionson the ma r ke t t hat
are far fro m min i rna 1 • Fur ther, the f ear 0 f "the wo rldwide
communist menace," has meant their endorsement of a
military large enough "to defend the West against all
.challenges and challengers."(112) Not only is it difficuI
t t 0 see how the r equi r emen t s 0 f s uchala r gemiii ­
tary can be reconciled with their espousal of a minimal
state, but a huge military can only be financed by massive
taxation which, itself, constitutes further restrictions
of the market. Thus, while the conservatives
generally endorse a market economy they are also perfectly
willing to restrict its operations for goals they
con sid e r m0 rei mp 0 r tan t • Inthe ins i gh t f u 1 c ommen t 0 f
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