When he is printed in The Hays Daily News, I always read Walter Williams, economics professor and right-wing syndicated columnist (with an apparent overlapping interest in constitutional scholarship).

I also read Williams in other newspapers and have studied with interest his recent speech at Hillsdale College, a conservative liberal-arts institution in Michigan. I find Williams very protective of the interests of the very wealthy and adamant that the powers of government should be limited.

It is not too much to say that Williams considers the very wealthy to be a far greater asset to our economic system than a drain on the system. I consider that proposition arguable, but my purpose here is not to argue it. I simply wish to fairly state Williams' position.

Most would classify Williams as conservative. My take on this is that a position far to the right of moderate could not be considered "conservative" in any strict sense of the term. If there is any other source of ideas nearly identical to those of Williams, it is Ayn Rand.

I would consider Ayn Rand radical, not conservative. It is possible that Williams believes everything he writes. I would like to award the benefit of the doubt.

I think that Williams often leaves the reader with the impression that American corporate capitalism is the same as "free enterprise" or the operation of the "free market." He leaves the impression that economic transactions between individuals and other economic entities in the modern United States of America are the same as the transactions Adam Smith described in "Wealth of Nations." No doubt Williams has read Adam Smith.

Most who refer to the "unseen hand" concept resulting from Smith's work have not.

I would like to supply some ideas to offset those of Williams.

The economic transaction as envisioned by Smith involves (according to my understanding) an "arm's length" agreement, by parties who are relatively equal (meaning that there is no great power differential), in which both parties have full knowledge of the matter at hand.

Particularly in the present era of financial complexity, I would say that a knowledge differential is a power differential. Now, more than ever, knowledge is power.

It is easy to see that the economic transaction is an ideal, and that no transaction in the real world fully achieves that ideal. The "unseen hand" is fully operative only when these conditions are met. Under these conditions, theoretically, the pursuit of enlightened self-interest by each party produces the additional benefit of promoting the common good.

It should be obvious that an ordinary citizen who bought Enron stock was dealing with an entity that had vastly more power than he, that Enron secretly created false value by largely-criminal financial manipulations, and that no exercise of due diligence by an ordinary citizen could sufficiently rectify the power and knowledge inequality of the parties. The described transaction is not one by two farmers across the fence regarding the sale/purchase of a hog. It is, or should be, obvious also that one worker does not enjoy power equality with a large employer. Only by collective action can there be an approximation of power equality.

Williams finds no justification for governmental intervention in business, other than the functions of government explicitly mentioned in the Constitution. The business world is not what it was in the 18th century of Adam Smith and our Founding Fathers. Our Constitution allows for protection by government of citizenry under circumstances where the citizens are helpless to protect themselves. The Founding Fathers probably envisioned fire, theft, murder, mayhem, rape, pillage, invasion and the like.

In today's economic world, there are serious risks against which ordinary citizens are helpless. Oversight and regulation of financial markets, financial institutions and investment schemes, plus protection of labor's right to collective bargaining, are necessary and proper extensions of government's obligation to protect.

Weeden Nichols is a retired soldier, amateur photographer, former athlete, competitive bridge player, social justice worker and Scottish heritage enthusiast.