An excerpt from "Persuasion vs. Force"

"Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, 'Taxation is the price we pay for civilization.' But isn't the opposite really the case? Taxation is the price we pay for failing to build a civilized society."

"The triumph of persuasion over force is the sign of a civilized society."

Read the entire essay

What People Are Saying About Persuasion vs. Force

"I think your essay is the best expression of freedom I've ever read."
John Bethel
Richmond, Virginia

"Your piece, 'Persuasion vs. Force,' is great. I like it immensely. Kindly send me 500 pieces along with the bill."
Harry F. Langenberg
St. Louis Discussion Club

"Of course persuasion is always better than coercion, but what shall we do about those who won't be persuaded? Life is too contingent to be legislated , once and for all; but it is also too dangerous not to be constrained by law."
Robert Heilbroner
New School of Social Research

"Very good! I almost wholly agree with your political philosophy."
Milton Friedman
The Hoover Institution
Nobel Prize winning economist

"I have read with appreciation your talk, 'Persuasion vs. Force.' Would the world and its leaders might follow the philosophies set forth therein…Keep speaking along these lines. It is a message that needs constant repetition."
Gordon B. Hinckley
President, LDS Church

"Never before have I hurrayed and booed in the same breath more times in a row than I did reading Mark Skousen's Persuasion vs. Force."
Myron W. Bodaker

"Just as I was becoming discouraged and disolutioned by politics in general and libertarianism in particular, along comes Mark Skousen's Persuasion vs. Force. What a relief! What a reasonable solution to our political differences. His idea of a new political creed is superb: 'The triumph of persuasion over force is the sign of a civilized society.' Who could argue with that? I can't explain how much better I feel…I only hope that this article is available as a reprint. I will send it out with my correspondence ever more!"
Gwendoline Stillwell
East Lansing, Michigan