In his latest essay, economics professor Richard Ebeling examines the very prevalent idea that while freedom is OK in the abstract, many situations call for government to step in and use coercion.

The result is that freedom dies the death of a thousand cuts from a thousand “buts.”

I wonder how many Americans look at things through the other end of the looking glass: I believe in an authoritarian, state-controlled society, but freedom would be all right in this area, naturally an area where he doesn’t want to be told how to behave.