For those who are not wealthy, the free-market fantasy is seductive for a different reason: it lifts the burden of responsibility that comes with freedom. We can dream that the “free market” will make all decisions for us. Our one and only decision is to concede our freedom to it. Once we join the libertarian cult, we do not have to take the trouble to evaluate the world. We are soothed by the notion that our impulses are automatically translated into the general good. We use our minds to rationalize, to justify whatever the markets give us, a habit that is submissive in the extreme.
