Saturday, September 30, 2017
But Government Isn’t God
"But government isn’t god. Government possesses neither god’s omniscience nor god’s benevolence. If government is not to be a tool of special interests and tyrants, it must be constituted to operate, not as we would want a benevolent superior being to govern us, but as a rule-bound agent."
Monday, September 25, 2017
A Monopoly of the Legitimate Use of Physical Force Within a Given Territory
Quote from Deirdre McCloskey:
"Now Weber was a very learned and intelligent scholar. After all, he gave us the true definition of government, namely, a monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory. It
is a definition as full and accurate as it is sadistically useful for torturing our mild social democratic friends in Sweden or Massachusetts, who like to believe that the government is a festival of kindly collectivism, sort of like a loving family. "
Sunday, September 24, 2017
What we need is not utopia but a free society in which people can design their own communities.
David Boaz, thanks to Professor Boudreaux
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Watch Out for Pure Democracy
Democracy for democracy's sake, is maybe not such a great idea. Our founding fathers feared majoritarian rule, and tried to buffer it with the limitations imposed by the Constitution.
Professor Boudreaux offers sone serious thought on the subject:
http://triblive.com/opinion/donaldboudreaux/12738963-74/realism-about-democracy
"This historical reality is lost on many modern-day fans of democracy. They talk and write — and sometimes scream — as if it is criminal even to suggest that today’s majority ought not be allowed to do whatever it votes to do. For these naïve democrats, democracy — or, worse, majoritarian rule — is not a means of enabling government to do what it should and keeping it from doing what it shouldn’t. Instead, democracy is an end in itself, individual freedom be damned. This attitude is dangerous."
Labels: democracy
No Support for Trump Tariffs
I support Trump on many issues, but cannot support his anti-economic views.
Professor Boudreaux has it right on tariffs:
"Trump wants to make you rich by reducing your access to goods and services. Good luck with that."
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Rush on the Utter Destruction of Trump
Read the whole thing!
https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2017/09/20/the-establishment-must-destroy-donald-trump/
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
The problem in Venezuela is not that socialism has been poorly implemented but that socialism has been faithfully implemented.
"Fussy Wrath" As Goalposts Moved Daily
"... liberals leverage their ability to create new rules out of thin air as a means of asserting their power over us normals. What was A-OK yesterday is now forbidden, and what was forbidden yesterday is now mandatory. Their goal is to keep our heads spinning and paralyze us with fear, like nearsighted corporals caught in a minefield and terrified that if we take one wrong step we will detonate a concealed wrongthink booby-trap. They want us living in fear of their fussy wrath..."
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Compulsion by Government
The essential feature of government is the enforcement of its decrees by beating, killing, and imprisoning. Those who are asking for more government interference are asking ultimately for more compulsion and less freedom.
The above Ludwig von Mises quote courtesy of professor Boudreaux.
Saturday, September 16, 2017
Forced Planning for All
Professor Boudreaux has it right:
"It’s a sad fact that even in relatively free societies there is an abundance of people who cannot abide leaving their fellow human beings to go about their lives as each chooses. "
Property Rights Are Human Rights
Keep the Populace Alarmed
Mencken quote:
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
Monday, September 11, 2017
F.A.Hayek Had it Right
F.A.Hayek had it right:
"It is high time, however, that we take our ignorance more seriously."
A quote from 1964. So-called "experts" can't solve our problems, in fact they just create more.
Thanks to Don Boudreaux for this quote.
Labels: ignorance hayek experts
Wednesday, September 06, 2017
Most Harm Caused by Good Intentions
Absolute truth... is from Milton Friedman:
That is one reason why trying to do good with methods that involve force lead to bad results, because the people who set out with good intentions are themselves corrupted.
And I may add, if they are not
corrupted they are replaced by people with bad intentions who are more efficient at getting control of
the use of force. The fundamental reason is more profound: the most harm of all is done when
power is in the hands of people who are absolutely persuaded of the purity of their instincts
and of the purity of their intentions.
Labels: perry friedman truth
