Insisted.......................

     Neither Hume nor Smith was a free market absolutist, of course:  both recognized the need for government action for the sake of national defense, the administration of justice, the provision of certain public works, at the very least.  Indeed, both emphasized the need for government to be strong enough to enforce order and rules of fair play;  the absence of such a government was precisely what had made the feudal era such a sad spectacle.  Yet Hume and Smith insisted that when politicians intervene in the economy for the sake of promoting national prosperity their actions are usually either futile or positively counterproductive.

-Dennis C. Rasmussen,  The Infidel And The Professor:  David Hume, Adam Smith And The Friendship That Shaped Modern Thought