“There is perhaps no more vital task today than rebuilding the civil order in those societies where the omnipotent state has left that order in ruins. It would be an error to suppose that government can achieve that task. Civil society is the result of the spontaneous human actions of a free people. It requires that government get out of the way of people’s endeavours and leave them free to associate with one another. It is easier for the moral fabric of society to be destroyed than it is for it to be carefully built up and passed down through the generations. There can be no doubt that freedom will not last long unless that task is begun.”
Nigel Ashford, Principles for a free society