Daniel Hannan is a member of the EU Parliament representing South East England for the Conservative Party. He’s authored a new book, Inventing Freedom: How the English-Speaking Peoples Made the Modern World and has written a short piece for The Telegraph that Billy Beck pointed to on Facebook.
Here’s today’s QotD from that piece:
We are still experiencing the after-effects of an astonishing event. The inhabitants of a damp island at the western tip of the Eurasian landmass stumbled upon the idea that the government ought to be subject to the law, not the other way around. The rule of law created security of property and contract, which in turn led to industrialisation and modern capitalism. For the first time in the history of the species, a system grew up that, on the whole, rewarded production better than predation.
Savor that last line:
“For the first time in the history of the species, a system grew up that, on the whole, rewarded production better than predation.”
And now, after centuries of this, we’re descending back to predation through crony capitalism and “too big to fail” businesses.