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Modern Liberty: And the Limits of Government
An impassioned defense of liberty from one of our most esteemed legal scholars. How has the modern welfare state redefined our notion of individual liberty? Are we free to express ourselves in speech, at work, or through sex? Arguing that equality is often the most potent rival of liberty, Charles Fried demonstrates how the dense tangle of government regulations both supports and threatens our personal freedoms. Richly illustrated with examples from contemporary life, Modern Liberty is vividly relevant to the experiences and needs of everyday Americans. This is Hayek's The Road to Serfdom updated for a time when we have put fascist and Marxist tyranny firmly behind us but still confront kinder, gentler threats to our liberty. Armed with Fried's insights, readers will be better able to defend themselves against those on both the left and the right who would limit their liberty to promote virtue, equality, or the greatness of the nation. Modern Liberty has profound implications for the societies in which we live now.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
5 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
About the author
Charles Fried
26 books13 followersCharles Fried is a prominent American jurist and lawyer. He served as United States Solicitor General from 1985 to 1989. He is currently a professor at Harvard Law School. He is sometimes described as a conservative, but his political views are perhaps better characterized as consonant with those of classical liberalism.
Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1935, Fried became a United States citizen in 1948. After studying at the Lawrenceville School and receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University in 1956, he attended Oxford University, where he earned a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Law in 1958 and 1960, respectively, and was awarded the Ordronnaux Prize in Law (1958). In 1960, Fried received the Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Columbia Law School, where he was a Stone Scholar.
Fried is admitted to the bars of the United States Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and numerous U.S. courts of appeals. He has served as counsel to a number of major law firms and clients, and in that capacity argued several major cases, perhaps the most important being Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceutical Co., both in the Supreme Court and in the Ninth Circuit on remand.
Fried's government service includes a year as Special Assistant to the Attorney General of the United States (1984-85) and a consulting relationship to that office (1983), as well as advisory roles with the Department of Transportation (1981-83) and President Ronald Reagan (1982). In October 1985, President Reagan appointed Fried as Solicitor General of the United States. Fried had previously served as Deputy Solicitor General and Acting Solicitor General. As Solicitor General, he represented the Reagan Administration before the Supreme Court in 25 cases. In 1989, when Reagan left office, Fried returned to Harvard Law School.
From September 1995 until June 1999, Fried served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, while teaching constitutional law at Harvard Law School as a Distinguished Lecturer. Prior to joining the court, Fried held the chair of Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence at Harvard Law School. On July 1, 1999, he returned to Harvard Law School as a fulltime member of the faculty and Beneficial Professor of Law. He has served on the Harvard Law School faculty since 1961, teaching courses on appellate advocacy, commercial law, constitutional law, contracts, criminal law, federal courts, labor law, torts, legal philosophy, and medical ethics.
Fried has published extensively. He is the author of seven books and over thirty journal articles, and his work has appeared in over a dozen collections. Unusually for a law professor without a graduate degree in philosophy, he has published significant work in moral and political theory only indirectly related to the law; Right and Wrong, for instance is an impressive general statement of a Kantian position in ethics with affinities with the work of Thomas Nagel, John Rawls, and Robert Nozick. Fried has been Orgain Lecturer at the University of Texas (1982), Tanner Lecturer on Human Values at Stanford University (1981), and Harris Lecturer on Medical Ethics at the Harvard Medical School (1974-75). He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1971-72. Fried is a member of the National Academy of Sciences's Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Law Institute.
In September 2005, Fried testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of the nomination of John Roberts to become Chief Justice of the United States. After the nomination of Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court, Fried praised Alito as an outstanding judge but dismissed claims that Alito is radical, saying, "He is conservative, yes, but he is not radically conservative like Scalia." Fried testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of
Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1935, Fried became a United States citizen in 1948. After studying at the Lawrenceville School and receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University in 1956, he attended Oxford University, where he earned a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Law in 1958 and 1960, respectively, and was awarded the Ordronnaux Prize in Law (1958). In 1960, Fried received the Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Columbia Law School, where he was a Stone Scholar.
Fried is admitted to the bars of the United States Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and numerous U.S. courts of appeals. He has served as counsel to a number of major law firms and clients, and in that capacity argued several major cases, perhaps the most important being Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceutical Co., both in the Supreme Court and in the Ninth Circuit on remand.
Fried's government service includes a year as Special Assistant to the Attorney General of the United States (1984-85) and a consulting relationship to that office (1983), as well as advisory roles with the Department of Transportation (1981-83) and President Ronald Reagan (1982). In October 1985, President Reagan appointed Fried as Solicitor General of the United States. Fried had previously served as Deputy Solicitor General and Acting Solicitor General. As Solicitor General, he represented the Reagan Administration before the Supreme Court in 25 cases. In 1989, when Reagan left office, Fried returned to Harvard Law School.
From September 1995 until June 1999, Fried served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, while teaching constitutional law at Harvard Law School as a Distinguished Lecturer. Prior to joining the court, Fried held the chair of Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence at Harvard Law School. On July 1, 1999, he returned to Harvard Law School as a fulltime member of the faculty and Beneficial Professor of Law. He has served on the Harvard Law School faculty since 1961, teaching courses on appellate advocacy, commercial law, constitutional law, contracts, criminal law, federal courts, labor law, torts, legal philosophy, and medical ethics.
Fried has published extensively. He is the author of seven books and over thirty journal articles, and his work has appeared in over a dozen collections. Unusually for a law professor without a graduate degree in philosophy, he has published significant work in moral and political theory only indirectly related to the law; Right and Wrong, for instance is an impressive general statement of a Kantian position in ethics with affinities with the work of Thomas Nagel, John Rawls, and Robert Nozick. Fried has been Orgain Lecturer at the University of Texas (1982), Tanner Lecturer on Human Values at Stanford University (1981), and Harris Lecturer on Medical Ethics at the Harvard Medical School (1974-75). He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1971-72. Fried is a member of the National Academy of Sciences's Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Law Institute.
In September 2005, Fried testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of the nomination of John Roberts to become Chief Justice of the United States. After the nomination of Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court, Fried praised Alito as an outstanding judge but dismissed claims that Alito is radical, saying, "He is conservative, yes, but he is not radically conservative like Scalia." Fried testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of
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February 7, 2008The Author doesn't build straw men or make the easy argument against governments that deny liberty. Instead, he invites us to try to understand liberty by considering three examples from western liberal democracies: Quebec's language law, Canada's prohibition of private health insurance, and Vermont's prohibition of Walmart. First he must explain whether liberty comes from the state or not. Again, he doesn't take the easy route, and acknowledges the arguments of others who disagree with his analysis. He starts out with freedom of the mind to show there is, at the minimum, one freedom not dependent on the state. He builds his case slowly and calmly and revisits the three examples. In the end, we how easily liberty can be taken away (even by us)in a democracy, and how we should consider how our democratically passed laws can (unnecessarily) violate the liberty of others. For example, if Vermont wants to preserve historic downtowns, why not support the downtown stores with a stipend but let shoppers buy where they choose.
This is an easily readable book, and gets one thinking.
This is an easily readable book, and gets one thinking.
December 9, 2010
I recommend this book to anyone who is fed up with partisan squabbles that prevail in modern political debate and wants to step back and look at the big picture. Fried describes this book as being an architectural drawing of a building. It's not concerned with the plumbing or electrical configuration, but it gives a good idea of what the building should look like. This is refreshing because so often today, it seems like everyone is arguing over the plumbing when what they really want are two different buildings. The building that Fried proposes is one of liberty and he contrasts that with the other possible buildings, most prominently one of equality. He makes a very convincing case for basing our society on liberty and giving a the big view of what that society should look like. He does this by using three seemingly benign encroachments on liberty in the freedom-loving western world, two in Canada and one in Vermont. This book is a great resource to learn about the philosophical foundation for libertarianism.
June 9, 2015
Part of the "Issues of Our Time" series
Fried poses three real-life scenarios to talk about the source and limits of liberty:
--The Quebec charter requiring French as the official and primary language of government and business
--The Canada Health system that not only mandates universal public health care but "blocks the exits" to alternative private health care, and
--The Vermont prohibition against Wal-Mart and protection of downtown business.
Fried finds natural rights in liberty of the mind (basically the traditional First Amendment rights), of the body (through sex), and through body to work--but also finds limits that a state can place on liberty in the interest of equality.
Even though only 183 pages long, Fried's writing style and subject matter makes the book seem longer than it should, and he doesn't use his examples often enough or clearly enough to explicate the bedrock philosophical principles that sometimes make the reader's head spin and mind wonder.
Fried poses three real-life scenarios to talk about the source and limits of liberty:
--The Quebec charter requiring French as the official and primary language of government and business
--The Canada Health system that not only mandates universal public health care but "blocks the exits" to alternative private health care, and
--The Vermont prohibition against Wal-Mart and protection of downtown business.
Fried finds natural rights in liberty of the mind (basically the traditional First Amendment rights), of the body (through sex), and through body to work--but also finds limits that a state can place on liberty in the interest of equality.
Even though only 183 pages long, Fried's writing style and subject matter makes the book seem longer than it should, and he doesn't use his examples often enough or clearly enough to explicate the bedrock philosophical principles that sometimes make the reader's head spin and mind wonder.
February 28, 2010
oh, i dunno. this depressed me.
i learned: equality must be sacrificed if liberty is to be attained. ah, and the governement mostly destroyed.
maybe when i'm older and rich i'll be able to agree?
(>.<)
simple review, yea? my head's sort of empty. i say this about every book i read almost, but you should probably read it on your own.
i learned: equality must be sacrificed if liberty is to be attained. ah, and the governement mostly destroyed.
maybe when i'm older and rich i'll be able to agree?
(>.<)
simple review, yea? my head's sort of empty. i say this about every book i read almost, but you should probably read it on your own.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews