The neoliberal revolution.

• Author: Machan, Tibor R.
• Position: Letters - Letter to the editor

In his review of Daniel Stedman Jones' Masters of the Universe: Hayek, Friedman, and the Birth of Neoliberal Politics ("The Neoliberal Revolution" February), Scott Sumner states that privatization across the globe "was driven by pragmatic rather than ideological considerations" but fails to help readers with just what the difference is between these two.

As someone who had a hand in putting reason on a regular publishing schedule very much for philosophical or "ideological" reasons, I would urge more clarity about these matters. What exactly are ideological versus pragmatic reasons? Is someone who has come to take principles of individual liberty seriously--like the American Founders and many libertarians--being ideological?

Suppose I hold that no one may...