Freedom Can Be Preserved Only If It

The Economic Freedom Which Is The Prerequisite Of Any Other Freedom Cannot Be The Freedom From Economic Care Which The Socialist Promise Us, And Which Can Be Obtained Only By Relieving The Individual At The Same Time Of The Necessity And Of The Power Of Choice: It Must Be The Freedom Of Economic Activity Which, With The Right Of Choice, Inevitably Also Carries The Risk And The Responsibility Of That Right

A Society That Does Not Recognise That Each Individual Has Values Of His Own Which He Is Entitled To Follow Can Have No Respect For The Dignity Of The Individual And Cannot Really Know Freedom.

It Is Rather A Problem Of How To Secure The Best Use Of Resources Known To Any Of The Members Of Society, For Ends Whose Relative Importance Only Those Individuals Know.

Unlike Liberalism, With Its Fundamental Belief In The Long-range Power Of Ideas, Conservatism Is Bound By The Stock Of Ideas Inherited At A Given Time. And Since It Does Not Really Believe In The Power Of Argument, Its Last Resort Is Generally A Claim To Superior Wisdom, Based On Some Self-arrogated Superior Quality.

... I Prefer True But Imperfect Knowledge, Even If It Leaves Much Undetermined And Unpredictable, To A Pretense Of Exact Knowledge That Is Likely To Be False.