Friedrich Hayek made a brilliant argument in favor of principle and against “pragmatism” that we would do well to remember these days. According to Hayek, it is always tempting to make compromises with our freedom, because what we are promised in exchange is always tangible and claims to solve some immediate problem. Meanwhile, all that we could have done with that lost freedom is unknowable–we can’t even imagine it, because it is in the nature of freedom to do what you couldn’t have previously imagined. So, the only way to resist such compromises is to “absolutely” and “dogmatically” refuse them in the name of freedom. Once we descend to the level of haggling over the best way to “solve” the “problem” (like, say, “high costs” of health care) we are already lost. And I would add that if we hold firm to freedom, other solutions, that we also couldn’t have imagined, will emerge out of our free interactions.