If liberal citizens lack personal control of material resources, that socialist critique goes, their rights and liberties may be of little value. Market democracy affirms this socialist insight and extends it. As people gain wealth, their formal freedoms become more valuable to them. As societies grow more affluent, more citizens have opportunities to travel the world, develop themselves intellectually or culturally, benefit from medical advances, enjoy new technologies, start business ventures, return to school or try new occupations, create organizations of various kinds, and, if they
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