Rogert Scruton, The Journey Home, Part 1

The Journey Home, Part I
Roger Scruton

When Wilhelm Röpke set out to write his defence of the “humane economy,” he had fallen under the spell of the Austrian school, particularly the belief that a well-ordered market was a virtually all-powerful cure against the tyranny of Bolshevism and statist centralization. Intervening history has shown, however, that terms like the “humane economy” are as susceptible to manipulation and politicization as are “social justice” and “subsidiarity.” While it is true that a free market provides a necessary level of freedom and prosperity for society, it is also the case that the virtues that make a society truly humane operate outside and beyond economic institutions. . . .