Eighty years ago, Friedrich Hayek wrote one of the most powerful books about threats to free society, The Road to Serfdom, as Europe collapsed into dictatorship. He devoted a chapter to the question of “Why the Worst Get on Top”. The Austrian-British writer wanted to explain how someone like Hitler could possibly come to be and what sort of subordinates made it possible. Concentrated power doesn’t merely attract bad men, Hayek argued; it selects for them. A strongman needs lieutenants who will execute his commands without hesitation, so the qualities rewarded are not judgement or moral courage but pliability. A […]