"Given that some social processes must convey..." - Quote by Thomas Sowell
Given that some social processes must convey inherent constraints, the choice is among various mixtures of persuasion, force, and cultural inducement. The less of one, the more of theothers. The degree of freedom that is possible is therefore tied to the extent to which people respond to persuasion or inducement.
More by Thomas Sowell
“Immigration laws are the only laws that are discussed in terms of how to help people who break them.”
“Just as a poetic discussion of the weather is not meteorology, so an issuance of moral pronouncements or political creeds about the economy is not economics. Economics is a study of cause-and-effect relationships in an economy.”
“Nobody would put as little thought and effort into buying an automobile as they put into deciding who to elect as President of the United States.”
More on Freedom
“Military despotism represses generous sentiments, priestly tyranny stifles them.”
“There is something servile in the habit of seeking after a law which we may obey. We may study the laws of matter at and for our convenience, but a successful life knows no law.”
“Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.”
More on Society
“I rejoice that horses and steers have to be broken before they can be made the slaves of men, and that men themselves have some wild oats still left to sow before they become submissive members of society. Undoubtedly, all men are not equally fit subjects for civilization; and because the majority, like dogs and sheep, are tame by inherited disposition, this is no reason why the others should have their natures broken that they may be reduced to the same level.”
“The war on privilege will never end. Its next grat campaign will be against the special privileges of the underprivileged.”
“We have so many people who can't see a fat man standing beside a thin one without coming to the conclusion that the fat man got that way by taking advantage of the thin one!”