True wisdom is enduring and resists obsolescence, as the timeless shape of the pyramid resists the ravages of gravity, weather, and time. Such was the work of men such as Austrian economist F. A. Hayek, who made clear in the international bestseller The Road to Serfdom why large-scale socialism and government intrusions into the free market were a path to wholesale oppression.

In 1945, when the era of big government was in the midst of an international heyday, Hayek allowed his academic dissenting argument for smaller government and more capitalism into an illustrated version that was published in Look magazine in 1945. That version of The Road to Serfdom was also distributed by General Motors in pamphlet form. What a difference 60 years makes.

[Editor: Because we are uncertain whether the material is still protected under copyright, Unequal Time will not post the page images from the illustrated version of Hayek’s book, but you can view them in their powerful brevity at this excellent website. To own a copy, go to the bottom of this post and click the link to Amazon to purchase. Full disclosure: We earn a commission for every book sold through this link, but the price is not engrossed in any way by us.]

Yet, even though society seems to have reorganized itself in many ways in terms of civil rights legislation, a weakened military-industrial complex, and a period in which no third world war erupted despite the presence of all necessary factors, the applicability of Hayek’s work is as valid now as it was then. Sales of The Road to Serfdom in the United States are booming, almost certainly driven by many Americans concern for a push from Democrats and the left to increase government involvement in the economy. Perhaps before the lilies are placed aside capitalism’s grave a second opinion is being sought after.

Just as a large part of Western culture’s great scientific leap forward during the Renaissance was little more than a relearning of earlier knowledge and theory of mathematics and the physical universe — or at least picking up the baton where it was dropped during the collapse of the Greek and Roman empires — the current revival of conservatives must also reconnect with lost knowledge.

Another artifact from a time when conservative messages were philosophically unambiguous and nearly impervious to misinterpretation comes in the form of former president Ronald Reagan’s satirical “The Modern Little Red Hen.” Building on the well-known children’s story of The Little Red Hen – a tale that teaches the value of hard work – Reagan’s altered version injects the familiar forces of organized labor, government regulation, and entitlement society to bring the story up to date.

Watch, listen, and share.

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