This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Friday, April 18th, 2014.

I'm Caleb Brown.

To win the Battle of Ideas, freedom's defenders will have to overcome the persistent impulse to vest experts with power, but the history of giving

experts vast powers over us isn't a happy one.

Journalist and Fox News host John Stossil discuss the broad record of markets versus government

planning at the Cato Institute's Benefactor's summit in February. I don't

think we've won the battle for hearts and minds because when there's a problem

instinct is always we got to have some expert address it. After 9-11 we got the

Department of Homeland Security and all that excess, the Senate voted a

hundred to zero to create the TSA. It's intuitive maybe because we grew up in

families where parents made decisions for us or from evolution because we

our ancestors lived in tribes where if you didn't do what the elders said and

harvest the fruit at the right time, you died and they didn't

live long enough to give birth to the people who gave birth to you.

So we're programmed to trust leaders.

And as I say the invisible hand, it's hard to grasp.

I like Hayek's spontaneous order better.

But even that's hard to get your brain around, but and even that you don't trust. If you'd never seen a skating rink, and I said to you, I'm a businessman, you're the regulators.

Should this be allowed? I want to run this business where I charge people money to come into my arena

and they're going to strap sharp blades to their feet and zip around on the ice, young and old, skilled and unskilled.

And the only rule is go counterclockwise.

You would say no we need skating police we need some laws. Our

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