Free To Choose: a personal Statement

parties to an exchange can benefit and that, so long as cooperation
is
strictly voluntary,
no exchange will take place unless both
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FREE TO CHOOSE: A Personal Statement
parties do benefit. No external force, no coercion, no violation
of freedom is necessary to produce cooperation among indi-
viduals all of whom can benefit. That is why, as Adam Smith put
it, an individual who "intends only his own gain" is "led by an
invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his inten-
tion. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part
of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that
of the society more effectually than when he really intends to
promote it. I have never known much good done by those who
affected to trade for the public good."
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The second set of ideas was embodied in the Declaration of
Independence, drafted by Thomas Jefferson to express the general
sense of his fellow countrymen. It proclaimed a new nation, the
first in history established on the principle that every person is
entitled to pursue his own values: "We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed
by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among
these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."
Or, as stated in more extreme and unqualified form nearly a
century later by John Stuart Mill,
The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or col-
lectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their
number, is self protection. . . . [T]he only purpose for which power
can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized commu-
nity, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good,
either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. . . . The only