The rule of law does not guarantee freedom, since general law as well as personal edicts can be tyrannical. But increasing reliance on the rule of law clearly played a major role in transforming Western society from a world in which the ordinary citizen was literally subject to the arbitrary will of his master to a world in which the ordinary citizen could regard himself as his own master

The big issue is whether the United States will succeed in its venture of reshaping the Middle East. It is not clear to me that using military force is the way to do it. We should not have gone into Iraq. But we have.

Complete free trade is not politically feasible. Why? Because it's only in the general interest and in no one's special interest.

History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition.

Nobody spends somebody else's money as carefully as he spends his own.

Anybody who was easily converted was not worth converting.

Economic freedom is an essential requisite for political freedom. By enabling people to cooperate with one another without coercion or central direction, it reduces the area over which political power is exercised.