Wealth brings with it its own checks and balances. The basis of political economy is non-interference. The only safe rule is found in the self-adjusting meter of demand and supply. Do not legislate. . . . Make equal laws: secure life and property, and you need not give alms. Open the doors of opportunity to talent and virtue, and they will do themselves justice, and property will not be in bad hands. In a free and just commonwealth, property rushes from the idle [lazy] and imbecile, to the industrious, brave, and persevering. –Culture, Behavior, Beauty, Ralph Waldo Emerson According to this passage, Emerson sees demand and supply as a means of production. a challenge to private ownership. a principle that keeps the economy stable. a barrier to free trade.