Wednesday, August 16, 2006

A Liberal, Radical and Progressive Manifesto

An excellent review by Tim Worstall of the new book by Deepak Lal, Revising the Invisible Hand. Clearly Lal's book struck a resonant tone with Worstall because it shows that "just about every goal held dear by those who call themselves radicals and progressives is best reached by exactly the opposite policy prescriptions that they put forward".

Lal looks at the reality of today's globalisation and effectively dispenses with many of the popular myths that surround contemporary world trade and development. What will be interesting, will be to see who amongst the "liberal" writers, thinkers, commentators and voices (a) bother to read Lal's book and (b) do so with an open mind.

It is perplexing contradiction that many who espouse to be liberal in their thought are in fact the most closed minded to alternative perspectives that might cause them to re-assess their beliefs and ideas.