"Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation understand that to choose one's government is not necessarily to secure freedom."
— Friedrich Hayek
Perhaps The Fact That We Have
Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation understand that to choose one's government is not necessarily to secure freedom.
About this quote
From The Road to Serfdom (1944), Chapter 5, "Planning and Democracy." Hayek was writing during World War II, when Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia had both achieved their power through electoral or mass-movement means. He argued that democratic choice of rulers is insufficient to guarantee freedom — the content and scope of what rulers are permitted to do matters as much as the mechanism by which they are selected.
Source
The Road to Serfdom, Chapter 5 (1944)
