Select Quotes

"The more the state plans, the more difficult planning becomes for the individual." ~ Friedrich Hayek

Curiosity is the ultimate expression of insubordination. Nabakov

"Progress is precisely that which rules and regulations did not foresee." ~ Ludwig von Mises

“A government large enough to give you everything you want is large enough to take it all away. Worry, pain, and anxiety are unpleasant, but they provide a valuable thing: the drive to work hard, take initiative, and better one’s circumstances.

"In the rush to cure all the ills to which humans are heir, liberty is too often an innocent bystander -- and an accidental casualty." --Barry Goldwater, 1964

"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficent....the greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding." -- Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis

If you believe the government can dictate the smallest details of 300 million people’s lives and achieve a desirable outcome, its you who are naive; libertarians are the realistic ones.

"When you let people do whatever they want, you get Woodstock. When you let governments do whatever they want, you get Auschwitz."

"The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them." -- George Orwell

ON EQUALITY
"From the fact that people are very different it follows that, if we treat them equally, the result must be inequality in their actual position, and that the only way to place them in an equal position would be to treat them differently."
"Equality before the law and material equality are therefore not only different but are in conflict with each other;and we can achieve either the one or the other, but not both at the same time. The equality before the law which freedom requires leads to material inequality." Hayek 1960

Hayek -- it is important not to confuse opposition against the latter kind of planning with a dogmatic lasissez faire attitude. The [classical] liberal argument does not advocate leaving things just as they are; it favours making the best possible use of the forces of competition as a means of coordinating human efforts. It is based on the conviction that, where effective competition can be created, it is a better way of guiding individual efforts than any other.

"James Madison's concern about class warfare between the rich and the poor led him to favor the House of Representatives being elected by the people at large and the Senate elected by property owners. He said, "It is nevertheless certain, that there are various ways in which the rich may oppress the poor; in which property may oppress liberty; and that the world is filled with examples. It is necessary that the poor should have a defense against the danger. On the other hand, the danger to the holders of property cannot be disguised, if they be undefended against a majority without property." Walter Williams

"Control-freak politicians abhor gold because it ignores them; it won't do what it's told. It defies economists and laughs at central bankers."

"[classical] Liberalism and capitalism address themselves to the cool, well- balanced mind. They proceed by strict logic, eliminating any appeal to the emotions. Socialism, on the contrary, works on the emotions,..."
"...tries to violate logical considerations by rousing a sense of personal interest and to stifle the voice of reason by awakening primitive instincts." Mises

EMOTION
As Hitler said, "When something is based on emotion, no facts can destroy it"

We were told tens of thousands of Americans died every year because they lacked health care insurance. Yet why is outrage gone? Presumably the same people are still without health care insurance as much of the HC law has not been implemented and many businesses have obtained waivers.

Marx and Engels did not try to refute an opponent's argument, but instead mounted a personal attack on the opponent. Likewise, Lenin said, 'My words were calculated to evoke hatred, aversion and contempt...not to convince but to break up the ranks of the opponent, not to correct an opponent's mistake, but to destroy him.' he stands in a direct line from Marx to the neocons."

The “Supreme” Court has now made it legal by 8 to 1 margin for “police” searching for illegal drugs to enter the home of a “criminal suspect” if, after knocking loudly on the victim’s door, it sounds like the victim is destroying “illegal” drugs, without a search warrant. So the war on drugs trumps 4th amendment. UNBELIEVEABLE

In all the studies, the best outcomes in education come from giving local control to principals.. let them put the focus on hiring good teachers, get rid of bad teachers quickly, and focus even daily on progress of kids who are marginal. None of this happens with a huge bureaucracy to support.

Subsidiarity, a central principle of Catholic social thought, holds that all social functions should be carried out by the most local unit possible, as opposed to the dehumanizing alternative whereby distant bureaucratic structures are routinely and unthinkingly entrusted with more and more responsibilities for human well-being.
We could use a little more of that and a little less direction from DC.

"Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied." -- Otto Von Bismark

TAXATION
"The income tax has made liars out of more Americans than golf".....WILL ROGERS

The constitution allows for two types of taxation with specific rules that govern each specie of tax. A direct tax must be apportioned and indirect taxes must be uniform. I know if it's a direct tax that the income tax is not apportioned and if it's an indirect tax it's not uniform.