Answer:
Freedom is necessary to generate progress; people also value freedom as an important
component of progress. This chapter will contend that both propositions are correct. Without
liberty, there will be little or no progress; most people will consider an expansion in freedom as
progress. Neither proposition would win universal acceptance. Some would argue that a
totalitarian state can marshal the resources to generate economic growth. Many will contend that
too much liberty induces libertine behavior and is destructive of society, peace, and the family.
For better or worse, the record shows that freedom has increased throughout the world
over the last few centuries and especially over the last few decades. There are of course many
examples of non-free, totalitarian, ruthless government on the globe, but their number has
decreased and now represents a smaller proportion of the world’s population. Perhaps this growth
of freedom is partially responsible for the breakdown of the family and the rise in crime, described
in the previous chapter. Dictators do tolerate less crime and are often very repressive of deviant
sexual behavior, but, as the previous chapter reported, divorce and illegitimacy are more connected
with improved income of women than with a permissive society. Moreover, the ability to rid
oneself of a objectionable mate improves the well-being of the adults involved and may leave the
children no worse than if they had been raised by two antagonistic parents.
A police state can also repress much crime, although no government can totally rid society
of lawlessness. Democracies can also take vigorous action against crime, but protecting the
innocent from government intrusion hampers the effectiveness of law enforcement. The state can
make two types of errors: they can arrest, prosecute and convict and innocent individual or they
can fail to arrest, prosecute or convict a guilty one. Repressive dictators typically are more willing
to make the first type of error and allow the innocent to be caught up with the guilty. Elected
