Tyranny Of The Majority, By John Stuart Mill

According to Mill, freedom means to be protected against the tyranny of political governors. Rulers need to be recognized by people because the rulers interest are equal to the interest of the nation There are two methods to obtain liberty; the first one is by owning political rights and the second one is to have common agreed constitutional examination. He argues that there are some limitations that are required in order to achieve individual freedom. This freedom is in charge of establishing the limit to the power of rulers. However, this limitation of power cannot be applied in democracies, as he calls it “Tyranny of the majority” , because the will of people is the will of the most numerous. Moreover, one supposes that his own preferences
are the only reason for his beliefs, which is a problem, because they have a wrong view of legitimate preferences. The society requires certain rules of behavior, and some rules of behavior need to be force upon laws and government decisions.
The great majority of people don’t feel government opinions as theirs, but when they do it, their individual freedom is occupied by the government. Mill says that there is a strong rejection against any attempt of the government to control people. He states that the one of the most important objectives of individual freedom is self-protection. The power that can be exercised over individuals is to prevent hurting others, which is known as the harm principle. Punishments must be imposed to those who harm other people, so one’s aim must be to prevent evil actions. Individual freedom focuses on doing whatever we want as long as it doesn’t harm anyone. Besides, freedom is also part of political morality, which concerns toleration in religious
matters.

Regarding to Hayek, he reinforces some of the arguments created by Mill.
He states that economic freedom is the most important freedom, that is to say, if you give up your economic freedom, you give up also the rest of your freedoms. However, without economic freedom, political freedom is useless, so it is essential to preserve it. The key issue is productive property, because this private property is what guarantees freedom. Under private ownership, there is no decision-making body to know what to do and make, so Hayek says that there must be a plan. Planning and competition need to be connected in order to maintain effective operation production, because there is a goal, which is known as the “general welfare” . According to Hayek, economic objectives cannot be separated from other life objectives. Economic freedom means the need for an opportunity and that we are able to solve our own economic issues. Moreover, money is one of the greatest instruments of freedom. This means that if people fight for money is because it offers us a wide range of benefits for us to enjoy, once we have obtained that money. Moreover, he argues that economy is connected, in other words, prices goes up and down and depend on many factors that need to be controlled. The competitive system is designed to reduce the power between people. It cannot be a fair system because under the free market you have to be impartial in order to ensure economic rights. In this system, everything can be obtained at
a price, normally a high price, so people need to sacrifice one thing to get others. In fact, economic power can be used with coercion means. Hayek mentions that democracies are a complete destruction of freedom and they cannot make planning, because they cannot agree in every situation. Even if any congress would agree on something, it would benefit nobody. Besides, he argues that the worst people are always the most successful and are at the top. As Hayek mentions, the end justifies the means, and it becomes a necessary statement; someone needs to be prepared to break moral concerns. Furthermore, collective freedom is the freedom of someone who has a plan. Modern society problems can be solved by planning. In relation with the rules of the law, one is free to achieve his own objectives. The rule of law differentiates a free country from a country without it. It is the lack of legal privileges of people designated by the government and it guarantees equality. In society that has been planned, if we give the government power, any rule can be legal, so the rule of law it’s the legal manifestation of freedom.