Liberalism in the Classical Tradition

Mises was a careful and logical theoretician who believed that ideas rule the world, and this especially comes to light in Liberalism. "The ultimate outcome of the struggle" between liberalism and totalitarianism, say Mises, "will not be decided by arms, but by ideas. It is ideas that group men into fighting factions, that press the weapons into their hands, and that determine against whom and for whom the weapons shall be used. It is they alone, and not arms, that, in the last analysis, turn the scales."