Market Correction

21 March 2006

Editor, The Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10281

Dear Editor:

You're right: were he still alive, de Tocqueville would be appalled by the modern French deification of centralization ("The Decline of France," March 21). As this passage from The Old Regime and the Revolution makes clear, he would also warn the French that their willingness to trade freedom for economic security will inevitably strip them of both:

"It is certainly true that in the long run, freedom always brings, to those who know how to keep it, ease, well-being, and often riches; but there are times when it briefly hinders the enjoyment of such goods; there are others when only despotism can temporarily afford their enjoyment. Men who prize only these kinds of goods have never enjoyed freedom for long."*

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University

* Quotation in Book Three, Chapter Three of Alexis de Tocqueville, The Old Regime and the Revolution.