Civil Society

On Pages 75 and 76 of his book Liberty and Tyranny, Mark Levin, at great pains, explains to the reader that not only does the free market economy make more people wealthy in American than in any other country on earth, but that a free market economy under-girds the stability, maintenance and survival of our civil society, allowing the republic to continue to survive and function: "But the Conservative believes that the individual is more than a producer and a consumer of material goods. He exists within the larger context of a civil society--which provides for an ordered liberty. The Conservative sees in the free market the harmony of interests and rules of cooperation that also underlie the civil society. For example the free market promotes self-worth, self-sufficiency, shared values, and honest dealings, which enhance the individual, the family and the community. . . The free market is an intricate system of voluntary economic, social and cultural interactions that are motivated by the desires and needs of the individual and the community. The Conservative believes that while the symmetry between the free market and the civil society is imperfect--that is, not all the developments resulting from individual interactions contribute to the overall well-being of the civil society--one simply cannot exist without the other."