were correct when they advocated the free movement of goods,
men, and ideas from one part of the globe to another. Freedom
and prosperity were to be linked together in one system of
human liberty.</p>
<p>The philosophy of wide economic freedom was believed in and
advocated during most of the 19th century. Said Daniel
Webster, for example, in 1814: "It is the true policy of
government to suffer the different pursuits of society to take
their own course, and not to give excessive bounty or
encouragement to one over another. This also is the true
spirit of the Constitution. It has not, in my opinion,
conferred on the government the power of changing the
occupation of the people of different states and sections and
of forcing them into other employments."</p>
<p>The same view was still respectable and defended toward the
end of the nineteenth century. President Grover Cleveland, in
his 1893 inaugural address, "condemned the injustice of
maintaining protection . . . . It perverts the patriotic
sentiment of our countrymen, and tempts them to a pitiful
calculation of the sordid gain to be derived from their
government maintenance. It undermines the self-reliance of our
people, and substitutes in its place dependence upon
governmental favoritism." It created, President Cleveland
said, the spirit of governmental "paternalism."</p>
<p>While the United States government never completely removed
itself from the economic affairs of the people, broad economic
freedom was more the rule than the exception in the last
century. Why? To quote Daniel Webster once more, "The general
sense of this age sets with a strong current in favor of
freedom of commercial intercourse and unrestrained action."
Economic liberty, Webster argued, was "the general tide of
opinion."</p>
<p>In our time, the general tide of opinion in the United States
has not been kind to either freedom of commercial intercourse
or unrestrained individual action. The reverse has been the
case. Listen to two voices from the contemporary business
community.</p>
<p>Lee Iacocca believes that, "the 1980s were a time of quick
bucks, greed, and a lot of corruption . . . . [W]e've got to
work and pull this country up by its bootstrap." And Mr.
Iacocca sees an important role for government in guiding us
away from our "lustful and greedy" ways.</p>
<p>Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computer, argues that, "getting
rid of General Noriega is important, but I wish the computer
industry would get a tenth of the space on our national agenda
that he has. We have to make these issues national
priorities." Technological achievements are still possible for
America, he believes, through "government leadership." The
problem is that "the private sector [is] dancing to its short-run tune," while government leadership can offer us the long-term vision for intelligent decision-making.</p>
<p>Many economists no longer share Adam Smith's vision. Lester
Thurow, dean of the Sloan School of Management at MIT, says
