the laws of economic survival of the fittest were their creeds. Thus, the liberal traditions touted the nobility and morality of a strong work ethic as characterized by the middle class. They felt the upper classes were too lazy and corrupt and the lower classes too stupid and unschooled to handle the reigns of social leadership. Only men of the strong middle class work ethic steeped in righteous moral behavior, social responsibility, and the will and ingenuity to solve problems, could lead a free market society to the promises of a better life.
The writings of Jeremy Bentham and Friedrich Bastiat, best exemplify some of the most important themes of the classical liberal tradition. Jeremy Bentham was concerned with the moral aspects of liberalism and the need to protect the individual's pursuit of happiness, ethical good, and material benefit (Bentham, 1789, 107). These concerns of Bentham's were characterized by what he called, the "principle of utility." He argued:
By utility is meant that property in any object,
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