Free to Choose, published in 1980 by Milton and Rose Friedman, is a clear and concise introduction to a whole series of reactionary economic arguments. If you’re a socialist who wants to understand what the enemy thinks, it’s a good place to start. In one crucial passage, the libertarian duo argues that we can exercise more power through consumer decisions than through political action.

When you enter the voting booth once a year, you almost always vote for a package rather than for specific items. If you are in the majority, you will at best get both the items you favored and the ones you opposed but regarded as on balance less important. Generally, you end up with something different from what you thought you voted for. If you are in the minority, you must conform to the majority vote and wait for your turn to come. When you vote daily in the supermarket, you get precisely what you voted for, and so does everyone else.

In the hands of the Friedmans, this is an argument for greater “economic freedom.” The less money the government taxes away to pay for social programs governed by imperfect democratic mechanisms, the more you have to spend in the marketplace getting “exactly what you want.”