it was the start of a school of liberalism which stood opposed to laissez-faire. It was egalitarian liberalism. It would not let things be, but instead prod away at them, ask questions, demand change, and test the success of freedom by the extent to which it resulted in equality. At the heart of it was a profound idea. The binary ‘state versus market’ debate was infantile. It was dangerous to suggest, as some socialists were starting to, that the state should provide everything. But it was also absurd to pretend that the market could do the same. The question of how far the government should
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