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Milton Friedman on Concentrated power and tyranny

Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it.
Capitalism and Freedom
Book, 1962, Ch. 13 Conclusion, p. 201
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  1. I say that there is a reverse invisible hand: People who intend to serve only the public interest are led by an invisible hand to serve private interests which was no part of their intention.
    Why Government Is the Problem
    Journal article, 1993, Hoover Institution Press, Essays in Public Policy no. 39, p. 11
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  2. Gammon’s theory is more than a smart-aleck curiosity. It is a direct consequence of the pursuit by all of us of our self-interest. In a market, we can pursue our self-interest only by persuading people to buy what we have to sell, hence we are driven to serve our customers’ interests. In a government bureaucracy that is exempt from competition, the customers have nowhere else to go. Their interests are largely irrelevant. Hence, the bureaucrat can serve his self-interest at their expense by expanding his empire and reducing his workload.
    Gammon’s “Black Holes”
    Column, 1977, Newsweek (1977); reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, November 30, 1977, p. 38195, introduced by Representative John Ashbrook of Ohio as “Mr. Friedman’s article on Gammon’s theory of bureaucratic displacement as it appeared in Newsweek.” The reprint gives no issue date, Congressional Record, November 30, 1977, p. 38195
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  3. What country in the world today engages in the most extreme anti-Semitic persecution? The Soviet Union. It’s not an accident, because if you have a society with concentrated power, if you have a collectivist society, it’s going to be in a position to exercise the preferences and prejudices of its rulers. Moreover, it’s going to have an incentive to do so, because it’s going to need a scapegoat and it will choose some group like the Jews or the blacks to be the scapegoat. New York and London, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980
    Interview with Milton Friedman
    Interview, 1973, Playboy
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