Governing has become synonymous with redistribution, that is to say, to take from one to give to another. This practice is contrary to the concept of private property as well as to personal liberty, because the prior is required in order to maintain the latter. The freedom to do business depends on the ownership of the means of production, and the freedom to consume depends on the ownership of one’s income. That which limits property rights, as does redistribution, also limits personal liberty. When property rights and personal liberty are limited, so is the possibility of economic progress. This economic stagnation from increased socialist planning is now making a strong comeback in Latin America.

To guarantee personal liberty and private property one must limit government. To that end, I edited a pair of decalogues for the government, one general and another economic, which must be observed in order to foster the rise of a free society.

General decalogue of the government

I.- Recognize and guarantee the rights of a person to life, liberty and property. Accept that those rights are superior to the State, its laws and its governments, whose only task is to recognize and to guarantee them.

II.- Respect, as in limit your actions, to protecting life, liberty and the property of the people.

III.- Charge only the amount of taxes necessary to ensure that people do not harm one another, and to issue punishment to those who intrude on the life, liberty or property of others.

IV.- Recognize that human beings are to be governed only by laws, not by men.

V.- Accept that the first and most important task of laws is to impose a limit to the actions of government, and that this limit should be respected as a moral obligation.

VI.- Create a government of just laws, that recognizes and guarantees the rights of the individual to life, liberty and property, above all against arbitrary government intrusion.

VII.- Accept that, except in the case of the security against delinquency, and the imparting of justice, the battle against wrongs, and in favor of goods, is the responsibility of the individual.

VIII.- Accept that your actions should be neutral, without granting privileges in favor of some and without imposing constraints against others, as is the essence of redistribution - taking from one to give to another. Each time that there is a temptation to redistribute you should ask “What justifies taking from one to give to another?”

IX.- Accept, without any reserve, that you are the government, and only the government - not a guardian angel nor a fairy godmother. Only then is it possible to recognize and guarantee the rights of life, liberty and property.

X.- Accept, without any reserve, that the only thing that justifies your existence, the collection of taxes, the prohibition of determined actions, and the imposition of punishments, is the defense of the rights of life, liberty and property.

Economic decalogue of the government

I.- Recognize fully, and guarantee legally, the freedom to engage in commerce and the freedom of consumer choice, and that incomes, the fruit of individual production, is the property of the individual that produced it.

II.- Accept that every person has the right to engage in any economic activity that they choose, as much on the production side as on the consumption side, so long as that activity does not infringe upon the life, liberty or property of others. More briefly, you will not limit, except when such an activity infringes on the rights of others, the freedom of commerce or of consumption.

III.- Accept that every person has the right to the fruits of their labor. In other words, you will not limit the ownership of incomes, or the ownership of the means of production, except by the amount necessary through the collection of taxes to guarantee security and justice.

IV.- Recognize that competition, especially among producers, is a necessary condition of economic development, and in no way seek to limit it. Moreover, do everything possible to promote it, beginning with strategic sectors of the economy.

V.- Accept that, besides liberty, property and competition, a strong and healthy currency is required to maintain price stability and to preserve the purchasing power of consumers and savers. This will also prevent price inflation as well as inflation created by intervention of the central bank in the market.

VI..- Recognize that it is a serious error, as much as from an economic standpoint as one of justice, to grant privileges (price supports, market protections, subsidies, monopolistic concessions, etc.), in favor of interest groups, whether it be producers or consumers, management or labor. Accept that your participation in the economic sphere should be neutral.

VII.- Accept that budgetary deficits and national debt are anathema to the health of the State. Finance all budget items only with taxes.

VIII.- Recognize that the manipulation of prices, in any way, should never occur.

IX.- Accept that the correct tax system is a single tax (not one more), that is homogeneous (the same rate for everyone), is universal (without exemptions of any type), is not exploitative (so that tax collection does not degenerate into legalized theft), and should only tax consumption (not income).

X.- Recognize that your task in the economy is not that of intervening in the decisions and actions of economic agents, but of minimizing the transaction costs of their actions. Moreover, recognize that your mission is not to alter, either in a coercive or passive way, the agreements between producers and consumers, or suppliers and purchasers, but simply to be the arbiter of the fulfillment of those agreements. Recognize also that your purpose is not to be the producer of goods and services, nor to plan, conduct, coordinate or in any way orient the economic activity of individuals.

* Arturo Damm Arnal is a Mexican Economist and Philosopher devoted to journalism and college teaching.