Many people who consider freedom the preeminent political objective perceive support for virtue to be an implicit call for restrictive new laws. More than a few advocates of virtue treat a vigorous defense of liberty like the promotion of vice. This mutual hostility is evidenced by the growing strains between many economic libertarians and social conservatives, who once submerged their differences in the pursuit of common goals. Yet neither liberty nor virtue is likely to survive alone. Both freedom and virtue are under serious assault today.
Government takes and spends nearly half of the nation's income.
Regulation further extends the power of the state in virtually every area of people's lives. Increasing numbers of important, personal decisions are ultimately up to some public functionary somewhere. Virtue, too, seems to be losing ground daily. Evidence of moral decline is manifest throughout American society. At this critical time, some supporters of either liberty or virtue are setting the two against each other, treating them as frequent antagonists if not permanent opponents.