The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

306 THE FREEMAN Mayparities" - regional, class, color,personal - ought to be eliminated.Will Durant stated the propositionclearly enough: "Freedom andequality are sworn and everlastingenemies, and when one prevailsthe other dies. Leave men free,and their natural inequalities willmultiply almost geometrically."lIf equality were the summumbonum of society, restrictionswithout number upon man's freedommight be justified in order torender all men as nearly equal ashuman institutions and devices arecapable of rendering them. But restrictionsupon liberty that areimposed to attain equality do notnecessarily result in achievingthat end. More often, such restrictionsproduce simply a fresh varietyof inequalities. At the sametime, the loss of freedom deprivessociety of its most vigorous catalystfor growth without substitutingany benefit in exchange.Hence the argument in favor ofrestricting freedom to attainequality among all mankind is amere chimera and sham, more attractiveas a rhetorical phrasethan as a viable possibility. Ourexperience and knowledge of therevolutions in Russia and Chinashow that those who justify theabridgment of liberty in the nameof equality end up by themselves1 Ariel and Will Durant, The ~essonsof History, p. 20.monopolizing liberty and declaring,in the words of George Orwell'selite of pigs, that while allpersons are equal some are moreequal than others.Freedom to ContractWe have observed that thestruggle of free men againstfeudalism's concept of status wasa long and arduous one. While itwas underwritten by the naturaldesire of individuals to improvetheir lives by exercising their latentabilities, the concept of freecontract found its rationale andjustification in the principles ofnatural law. Its source was the ecclesiasticallaw. In the upheavalsthat saw the decline and demise offeudal society, the principles ofthe Old Testament and the powerof the clergy played no small role.The appeal to natural law washeard in many places.When Adam delved, andEve span,Who was then a gentleman?Such was the theme of a sermonin Nat Tyler's Rebellion.Traditionally, there are certainbasic "rights" to which a man isnaturally entitled: the right. tosafety of his person, to liberty ofhis body, to his own good name, tofreedom from malicious vexationby legal process, the use and enjoymentof his own property, the