Individual and government

‘Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. The existence of a free market does not of course eliminate the need for government. On the contrary, government is essential both as a forum for determining the ‘rules of the game’ and as an umpire to interpret and enforce the rules decided on. What the market does is reduce greatly the range of issues that must be decided through political means, and thereby to minimise the extent to which government need participate.’Milton Friedman, Capitalism and freedom, University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1962, p. 15.