Mises Beats Maslow to the Punch

Recently, while reading Liberalism, In The Classical Tradition, written by Ludwig von Mises in the year 1927, we noted a striking passage, right in the beginning on page 4:

“All that social policy can do is to remove the outer causes of pain and suffering; it can further a system that feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, and houses the homeless. Happiness and contentment do not depend on food, clothing, and shelter, but, above all, on what a man cherishes within himself. It is not from a disdain of spiritual goods that liberalism concerns itself exclusively with man’s…