Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Adam Smith is often caricatured as the prophet of unfettered individualism. Yet, Smith believed the Invisible Hand could only function within a society bound by sympathy, family, and local institutions. The Adam Smith Institute invited Danny Kruger MP, Head of Preparation for Government for Reform UK, to deliver a keynote lecture in which he set out his party's principles for social policy.
Moving beyond the myth of atomised selfishness, this lecture explored the profound intellectual kinship between Adam Smith and Edmund Burke. Danny Kruger traced the roots of free enterprise from early Christianity to Burke’s little platoons, arguing that the real enemies of community are not markets, but the top-down Men of System in distant bureaucracies.
Delivered on Smith’s birthday and the 250th year since the publication of The Wealth of Nations, this lecture emphasised reclaiming Smith’s legacy as the foundation for a resilient, organic social order.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction by ASI Chairman James Lawson
2:40 Speech by Danny Kruger MP
5:13 Community
8:40 Adam Smith's Recipe for a Strong Society
15:00 The Natural Course of Things
22:56 Should We Cut the Supply of or Demand for Government?
Adam Smith is often caricatured as the prophet of unfettered individualism. Yet, Smith believed the Invisible Hand could only function within a society bound by sympathy, family, and local institutions. The Adam Smith Institute invited Danny Kruger MP, Head of Preparation for Government for Reform UK, to deliver a keynote lecture in which he set out his party's principles for social policy.
Moving beyond the myth of atomised selfishness, this lecture explored the profound intellectual kinship between Adam Smith and Edmund Burke. Danny Kruger traced the roots of free enterprise from early Christianity to Burke’s little platoons, arguing that the real enemies of community are not markets, but the top-down Men of System in distant bureaucracies.
Delivered on Smith’s birthday and the 250th year since the publication of The Wealth of Nations, this lecture emphasised reclaiming Smith’s legacy as the foundation for a resilient, organic social order.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction by ASI Chairman James Lawson
2:40 Speech by Danny Kruger MP
5:13 Community
8:40 Adam Smith's Recipe for a Strong Society
15:00 The Natural Course of Things
22:56 Should We Cut the Supply of or Demand for Government?
