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At the beginning of "The Road to Serfdom," Hayek acknowledges that mere material wealth is not all that's at stake when the government controls our lives: "The most important change … is a psychological change, an alteration in the character of the people."

I saw an example of this first-hand when my wife and I visited Russia a few years ago. There was a loose cobblestone on the sidewalk and our translator stumbled on it and nearly fell off of her characteristic stiletto heels.

Following behind her as she muttered something under her breath that I'm probably fortunate I didn't understand, I gently punted the rock onto the dirt next to the sidewalk, barely breaking my stride and hardly even thinking about it as we shopped for gifts at the little boutique to which she brought us.

On the way back to the car, the moment we got to the place where the rock had been, she turned around, gestured to me (Russians don't point), and exclaimed "you did that, didn't you??"

"Uh... what?" I replied, surprised at her reaction.

"You moved that rock off of the sidewalk, didn't you??"

"Uh... yeah?" I said, still bewildered.

"That's such an American thing to do!"

And she, my wife, and I spent the next little while talking about the tragedy represented by generations of Russians having been brought up to curse the darkness instead of lighting a candle.