Freedom Is Not Merely The Opportunity To

The More We Understand What Is Happening In The World, The More Frustrated We Often Become, For Our Knowledge Leads To Feelings Of Powerlessness. We Feel That We Are Living In A World In Which The Citizen Has Become A Mere Spectator Or A Forced Actor, And That Our Personal Experience Is Politically Useless And Our Political Will A Minor Illusion.

Above All, Do Not Give Up Your Moral And Political Autonomy By Accepting In Somebody Else's Terms The Illiberal Practicality Of The Bureaucratic Ethos Or The Liberal Practicality Of The Moral Scatter. Know That Many Personal Troubles Cannot Be Solved Merely As Troubles, But Must Be Understood In Terms Of Public Issues And In Terms Of The Problems Of History Making.

The Market Is Sovereign And In The Magic Economy Of The Small Entrepreneur There Is No Authoritarian Center... In The Political Sphere... The Equilibrium Of Powers Prevails, And Hence There Is No Chance Of Despotism.

When White-collar People Get Jobs, They Sell Not Only Their Time And Energy, But Their Personalities As Well. They Sell By The Week, Or Month, Their Smiles And Their Kindly Gestures, And They Must Practice That Prompt Repression Of Resentment And Aggression.

Those In Authority Within Institutions And Social Structures Attempt To Justify Their Rule By Linking It, As If It Were A Necessary Consequence, With Moral Symbols, Sacred Emblems, Or Legal Formulae Which Are Widely Believed And Deeply Internalized. These Central Conceptions May Refer To A God Or Gods, The 'votes Of The Majority,' The 'will Of The People,' The 'aristocracy Of Talents Or Wealth,' To The 'divine Right Of Kings' Or To The Alleged Extraordinary Endowment Of The Person Of The Ruler Himself.