Reply #11: Smith, like Orwell, is often misunderstood by the RW

[rockymountaindem]

I doubt he would have thrown in with chuckleheads like Romney. A quote from Mr. Smith:

"The proposal of any new law or regulation which comes from , ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it."

Hmmm... does that sound like laissez faire? Not to me. And then there's this:

"All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind." It seems Mr. Smith is no friend of the aristocracy or the ruling class. And lastly, guess who said this:

"Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all." Hint: It's either Smith or Marx, and it's not Marx.

So, Mr. Romney, which of these statements do you agree with the most?