My Crooked Liberal Mind

• Author: Pedro Tellería
• Date: November 9, 2025
• Web: PedroTelleria.com
• Thought Capsules: Liberal-Mind
• Note: Article-1 in a series

The State is the great fiction through which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else. (Frédéric Bastiat, “The State,” 1848)

I live in a society that—often unknowingly—idolizes the State. It imagines it as safety, justice, progress. A secular faith, a moral authority, a protective mother.

I look left and right, and I see the same thing: “Collectivism.” From communists who proclaim it openly to conservatives who dress it up as order. The words change. The instinct remains.

• Many think their contribution to the State is smaller than what they receive (or expect to receive) from it.
• Some “from passivity” trust the collective, through the State, to deliver safety and peace of mind. One-size-fits-all solutions: no need to think or decide; if there’s a mistake (if it is one), it’s collective “not my fault.”
• Others “from Power” seek to manage other people’s lives. From above. They know better.

In that tide, my mind turns into heresy. A crooked mind. Liberal. Not because I worship the market. But because I defend the individual.

I do not propose a paradise. I do not promise final justice. Only one principle: the State’s power must have limits. Human dignity begins when no one can force you to live as another commands.

A quote (not mine—I hope you like it): The individual has always struggled not to be absorbed by the tribe. If you try, you will often be alone, and sometimes afraid. But no price is too high for the privilege of being yourself. (Rudyard Kipling)

Liberalism: moral framework, not an economistic cult

“Liberal” is a prostituted word. In the United States it means soft left. In Europe, economic right. In street talk, selfishness in disguise. But no. That is not it.

Liberalism is a framework for coexistence among strangers. A system of general rules where no one imposes a utopia. Where life, property, and contract are protected. Where each person seeks their own good without crashing violently into others.

It is not a cult of money. It is not hedonism. It is respect for the other. It is humility before complexity. It is accepting that no one has the perfect plan. Not the socialist. Not the conservative. Not the religious believer. Not the technocrat. Not me.

As Hayek would say, it is spontaneous order. As Popper reminded us, it is an open society. As Rallo explains, it is a neutral framework for incompatible ends.

Liberalism, as each human being’s right to develop their own Life-Project, entails:

• Freedom: limited only by the equivalent right to freedom that belongs to others.
• Property: the right to private property, which supports the resources needed to pursue those Life-Projects.
• Non-Aggression Principle: Never—whether physical or economic—as a means to coerce or violate others.

State: judge, not player. Rule, not whim

The State must exist. Without justice, jungle. Without security, fear. Without certain public works, paralysis. But its role is arbitral, not entrepreneurial.

It should not run the economy. It should not indoctrinate at school. It should not dictate which culture is valid. It should not decide which values are correct.

It must limit itself. Submit to rules. Honor contracts. Punish fraud. Defend the innocent. Nothing more. Nothing less.

From Buchanan we learn it is not only which policy is chosen that matters, but under which rules—and who captures the spoils. From Friedman, that simple rules restrain arbitrariness.

Radical subsidiarity: what the individual can do, the government must not. What a family, a company, an association can do, the bureaucrat must not invade.

Market: civilization without a strongman

The market is not perfect. But it is peaceful. It is voluntary. It is creative. Where there is a market, there are prices. Where there are prices, there is information. Where there is property, there is responsibility.

He who takes risks, wins or loses. He who lies, answers for it. He who competes, improves.

It is not theology. It is evolution. It is trial and error. It is cooperation without command.

As Mises and Hayek showed, without prices there is no calculation. Without property there are no incentives. Without freedom there is no progress. Escohotado was right: commerce civilizes more than a thousand sermons.

Equality: before the law, not in life

We are not all born equal in talents, families, or luck. But we must all be equal before the law. No special jurisdictions. No privileges. No castes.

Justice is not giving everyone the same. It is giving each their due.

Imposing equal results requires violence. Planning. Expropriation. Lies. Failure.

I prefer imperfect meritocracy to forced equality. I prefer expanding opportunities from below (education, competition, freedom) to redistributing results from above.

Friedman said it clearly: equality of rights, not of results. Sowell added: utopian plans create more poverty, not less.

Taxes: a poorly disguised punishment for effort

Paying taxes is not a crime. Extorting the productive is. Taxation must be low, simple, predictable.

When taxes suffocate, talent flees. Creativity hides. The rent-seeker prospers. The entrepreneur gives up.

Less is more: fewer taxes, more activity. Fewer deductions, more clarity. Less complexity, more fairness.

The goal is not to punish the rich. It is to fund the essential without destroying the vital.

Disciplined spending. Evaluated programs. A constitutional expenditure rule.

Welfare: safety net, not cage

A decent society does not let the vulnerable fall. But it also does not turn assistance into a way of life.

A net, yes. A cushion, no. No dependency.

When welfare becomes permanent, the culture of effort erodes. Employment falls. The State swells. Civil society atrophies.

Help those who suffer, yes. But with conditions. With deadlines. With evaluation.

Philanthropy, family, and community must be the first line. The State, the last resort.

Bastos, Friedman, and Rallo have documented it: the hidden cost of infinite welfare is moral decay.

Education: freedom, excellence, critical thinking

To educate is not to indoctrinate. It is to liberate. It is to cultivate civic virtues. Intellectual rigor. Methodical doubt.

Diverse schools. Families choosing. Demanding curricula. Transparent evaluation.

Excellence must be the horizon. Not equality by leveling down. School autonomy must bring responsibility. Results.

Popper asked for criticism. Hayek, for decentralization. Friedman, for choice.

Education must be plural. Not a megaphone of power.

Freedom of expression: first canceled, then persecuted

Today we do not need state censors. Social intimidation, “cancel culture,” and digital lynchings suffice.

The dissenter is a heretic. The critic “sows hate.” The free person is suspect.

I defend robust freedom. It should be limited only when there is direct violence or clear defamation. Not for sensitivity. Not for ideology.

Culture should be financed by those who value it. Not by captive taxpayers. If subsidies exist, let them be general. Not partisan.

Escohotado warned: the enemies of commerce are often enemies of freedom.

Foreign policy: prudence before crusades

Wars create monsters. They fatten power. They justify surveillance. They raze rights.

I prefer active peace to moral interventionism. Trade, diplomacy, example.

Firm defense of one’s own territory. Alliances with judgment. But no neocon adventures.

Classical liberalism is prudent. Not naive, but not messianic either.

Humility: method before dogma

I do not have perfect solutions. No one does. What I propose is a method: 1-Gradualism, 2-Evaluation, 3-Correction.

Pilot reforms. Measure. Correct. Do not double down out of ideological pride.

The social system is complex. Therefore: simple designs. Aligned incentives. Clear rules. And where possible: spontaneous order.

Hayek taught modesty. Popper, trial and error. Buchanan, rules against temptation.

Conclusion: thinking differently in a leveled world

I do not claim to have the truth. I do not ask for power. I do not seek to impose.

I only defend a space: that of individual freedom against the “Collectivist tide.”

In a world where everyone wants to run other people’s lives, being liberal is rebellion, heresy.

That is why my mind is crooked. Because it refuses to kneel before the tribe, the party, or the State.

Thinking freely is dangerous. But it is worth it.

So do not expect me to be silent. I will not surrender. I will not ask permission. I will keep writing. Even if it bothers. Even if they insult me. Even if they cancel me.

Because if we yield in the word, we soon yield in everything. And I will not yield.

Pedro Telleria

Notes and References

• Frédéric Bastiat. The State (1848), in Collected Works of Frédéric Bastiat, Vol. 2, Liberty Fund, 2012, p. 5.
• Rudyard Kipling. Citation by Arthur Gordon, “Six Hours with Rudyard Kipling”, The Kipling Journal 34, no. 162 (June 1967), 7; first published as “Interview with an Immortal”, Reader’s Digest 75, no. 447 (July 1959), 38–42.
• Friedrich A. Hayek. The Constitution of Liberty (1960). University of Chicago Press.
• Karl R. Popper. The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945). Routledge Classics Edition, London
• Juan Ramon Rallo. Una revolución liberal para España (2014). Deusto, Madrid.
• James M. Buchanan. The Limits of Liberty: Between Anarchy and Leviathan (1975). University of Chicago Press.
• Milton Friedman. Capitalism and Freedom (1962). University of Chicago Press.
• Ludwig von Mises. Human Action: A Treatise on Economics (1949). Yale University Press.
• Antonio Escohotado. Los enemigos del comercio. Historia de las ideas sobre la propiedad privada, Vol. I (2008). Espasa Calpe, Madrid.
• Thomas Sowell. A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles (1987). Basic Books, New York.
• Miguel Anxo Bastos. La razón liberal (2020). Unión Editorial, Madrid.