The following is from Dr. Andrew Bernstein’s book “The Capitalist Manifesto: The Historic, Economic and Philosophic Case for Laissez-Faire.”
“More fundamentally, entrepreneurs and officials of a coercive regime have opposing interests. The entrepreneur gains by upsetting the status quo — e.g., by filling the roads with automobiles, where previously there had been only horses and buggies, etc. But a statist official has a vested interest in retaining his power over men. Since the status quo includes his political control, whatever new development threatens the current state of affairs potentially undermines his authority. If he recognizes merit in the entrepreneur’s proposal, he sees that it will bring increased prosperity to the citizens, e.g., owning an automobile raises a man’s standard of living. But the more prosperous an individual, the more control he has over his own life — and the less likely he will be to obey an external authority. The statist official, forced to choose between progress and his own power, invariably chooses power. This is why no state-dominated society has ever approximated 19th century America in terms of scientific, technological and industrial advance — and why none ever will.”
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