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2011 December 23
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"Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore, be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning is not to be sought for in metaphysical subtleties which may make anything mean everything or nothing at pleasure." |
"[The founding fathers] conferred, as against the Government,
the right to be left alone -- the right most valued by civilized men." |
"In this country sovereignty resides in the people,
and Congress can exercise no power which they have not,
by their Constitution, entrusted to it: All else is withheld." |
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2011 December 22
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"We may safely rely on the disposition of the State legislatures
to erect barriers against the encroachments of the national authority." |
"If it be admitted that a man, possessing absolute power, may misuse that power by wronging his adversaries, why should a majority not be liable to the same reproach? Men are not apt to change their character by agglomeration; nor does their patience in the presence of obstacles increase with the consciousness of their strength. And for these reasons I can never willingly invest any number of my fellow creatures with that unlimited authority which I should refuse to any one of them." |
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2011 December 21
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"Government is a parasite -- a cancer that by nature tries to spread deeper into society.
Those who want to run others' lives won't give up and start minding their own business." |
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"[If Parliament] may take from me one shilling in the pound,
what security have I for the other nineteen?" |
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2011 December 20
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"It [government] covers the surface of society with a network of small complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, guided; men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting: such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to be nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd." |
"In Washington, D.C. it costs $7,000 in city fees to open a pushcart. In California, up to eighty federal and state licenses are required to open a small business. In New York, a medallion to operate a taxicab costs $150,000. More than 700 occupations in the United States require a government license. Throughout the country, church soup kitchens for the homeless are being closed by departments of health. No wonder so many people turn to crime and violence to survive." |
"In 1983 $21 billion was spent in agricultural subsidies
-- almost equal to the net income of all American farmers." |
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2011 December 19
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"Mankind is at its best when it is most free. This will be clear if we grasp the principle of liberty. We must recall that the basic principle is freedom of choice, which saying many have on their lips, but few in their mind." |
"It is precisely this clinging to victimhood as a means of demonstrating one’s virtue and advancing one’s well-being that has led us into a society in which welfare and quotas are “civil rights,” government handouts are “entitlements,” and payment to girls having babies out of wedlock are “compassionate,” while hard-working, ambitious people are “greedy,” punishment of crime is “oppression,” and an independent thinker who stands for courage and self-reliance is dismissed as an “Uncle Tom.”" |
"It is no coincidence that some of America’s most lethargic industries -- steel, footwear, rubber, textiles -- are also among the most heavily protected." |
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