The idea that political freedom can be preserved in the absence of economic freedom, and vice versa, is an illusion. Political freedom is the corollary of economic freedom.
Ludwig Von MisesRead
Wars of aggression are popular nowadays with those nations convinced that only victory and conquest could improve their material well-being.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote critiques nations that pursue war for material gain, suggesting that such aggression is misguided.
Ludwig Von Mises highlights the troubling trend of nations engaging in wars of aggression under the belief that victory will lead to improved prosperity. By emphasizing that these nations equate conquest with material well-being, he questions the morality and logic behind such actions, suggesting that true well-being cannot be achieved through violence and the subjugation of others.
Themes
WarAggressionMaterialismVictoryConquest
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a debate about the ethics of military intervention.
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The most serious dangers for American freedom and the American way of life do not come from without.
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The public firm can nowhere maintain itself in free competition with the private firm; it is possible today only where it has a monopoly that excludes competition. Even that alone is evidence of its lesser economic productivity.
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Each epoch has found in the Gospels what it sought to find there, and has overlooked what it wished to overlook.
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Whoever prefers life to death, happiness to suffering, well-being to misery must defend without compromise private ownership in the means of production.
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