Spencer Heath Archive

Item 2161

Typed commentary by Heath on F. A. Hayek’s communication, “Freedom and Coercion: Some Comments and Mr. Hamowy’s Criticism,” in New Individualist Review, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Summer 1961), pp. 28-30. Heath pasted his commentary into the Review on page 28.

 

 

 

“I sympathize with Mr. Hamowy’s disappointment about my admission that I know of no way of preventing coercion altogether and that all we can hope to achieve is to minimize it or rather its harmful effects. The sad fact is that nobody has yet found a way in which the former can be achieved by deliberate action. Such a happy state of perfect freedom (as I should call it) might conceivably be attained in a society whose members strictly observed a moral code prohibiting all coercion. Until we know how we can produce such a state all we can hope is to create conditions in which people are prevented from coercing each other. But to prevent people from coercing others is to coerce them. This means that coercion can only be reduced or made less harmful but not entirely eliminated.”

 

/Heath penciled in the following from the above:/  Until we know how we can produce such a state all we can hope is to create conditions in which PRIVATE people are prevented from coercing each other. But to prevent SOME people from coercing others is to coerce ALL OF them. This means that coercion OF SOME can only be reduced or made less harmful but not entirely eliminated.”

 

/Then Heath penciled at the bottom of the page:/

 

 

In a community of ten people, Professor Hayek would protect number 1 from possible assault by number 2 by having, say, six of the ten, as voters, assault (tax) all of them, including number 1, who is thus sought to be protected. So to shield number 1 against a particular assault he would subject number 1 and anyone else, except the elect, to a general assault on all.  If there is a way to protect number 1, and there is, it certainly cannot be Professor Hayek’s way.

                                           Spencer Heath

                                           September 16, 1961