The Promise of Liberty: A Non-Utopian Vision

Tibor Machan's central political imperative in The Promise of Liberty is one that he has found borne out by history, analysis, and personal experience: to recognize that individuals have unalienable rights to their lives, liberty, and property (which includes, of course, the pursuit of their happiness, their life agendas), that the only limitations on these rights should be others' equal rights, and that the proper function or role of the legal authorities in a country is to "secure" or protect these rights. As Machan points out, however, that imperative cannot survive scrutiny all on its own; it needs to be grounded on other true notions, on facts about us, the world, and the nature of community life. As a result, this book touches on a wide-ranging array of topics and addresses basic issues in ethics and the possibility of moral and ethical knowledge. This book will be of interest to students of politics and political economy, as well as those interested in what kind of human community is best suited for human living as such, with all its variety and multiplicity.