Are You Really Free? Thoughts on Liberty

Truly?

I wrote an essay for my first English class in college positing the idea that eventually the explicit graphic sexual writing and descriptions (this was in 1968) would have to eventually fade because it lacked creativeness, anybody could to it. I thought writers that truly loved their craft would stop indulging in that low level of writing. The professor gave me high marks, but wrote the comment "are you serious?" I was, but for the most part I was wrong.

Part of it is our culture has degenerated into easiness and mediocrity; in all things, not just literature. At it's core, this phenomenon has to do with our giving up on liberty, the rejection of it, and replacing it with libertinism. As a culture we've redefined liberty to mean we can do whatever we want without consequence. We can reject the Judeo-Christian moral and ethical values and rules of behavior and replace them with "if it feels good, do it". In our US Constitution we can ignore "enumerated rights" and accept the government can do whatever it damn well pleases, cannot "infringe" doesn't really mean that, and freedom to practice religion and the government can't establish a State religion, is changed to meaning freedom from all religious mention anywhere, anytime, except in church on Sunday.

I had left Christianity and the church (institutional worship and service) for about twenty five years, returned, and when I say that I am more free now, that I experience and practice more liberty now than during the years of secularism and libertinism, I get that 'you're nuts' look, or "what the hell are you talking about?"

During those years I was free not to commit to anything except pleasure  I had to ask myself, how is that good? I found it lends itself to alienation, from people and groups. Now I'm committed to my Church and my friends in a way I didn't understand before, and I'm a better man for it. I also moved from Leftism\Marxism to Conservatism politically, and my political thinking is more clear and true.

At the national level we have a government and culture that ignores fiscal responsibility and have allowed ourselves to be tens of $trillions in debt; an unimaginable number, and think there's no consequences. We accept graphic sex and violence as the norm. Maybe it's only age, but I've lost interest in it. It doesn't tantalize anymore. At the national level look at the $trillions we spend on sex, drugs, alcohol, the things that only provide us with short term material pleasure. I'm all for pleasure still, but it shouldn't be life's purpose. Tithing and giving to charity and missionary organizations is much more fulfilling. 

I think if those libertine things are the most important, is what drives you, then you aren't free. I have to ask, what good is it if what's most important is getting loaded, who benefits? If politicians' greed for money and power, which they get only by taking it from you, is what drives them, not the rule of law, who benefits? The Bible and our Constitution make it abundantly clear there are specific rules and laws that work, for both national and personal behavior. Rejecting those leads to bondage to the State, and personal bondage to things that hurts oneself and others.

I have found that the discipline of Judeo-Christian living is what frees, and the Constitution is based on those principles, and is what has kept us free as a people. Both are being rejected, at our peril, and why those of us that care see more degradation, decay and corruption in our civilization. Since the 1960's we have seen these things continually increase, our problems increase, because we reject what is right for what is convenient and mediocre, comfortable and easy.

Romans 8:21 observes "....because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.' Another way to word that is, what would you rather choose, the fake freedom of liberty of the world, or the world God intended for us? For you secularists, God intended us to get along, not fight, treat others well, and care for each other. Hope, Love, Charity. 

Aging, Civilization: A Look Through Life's Rear-view Mirror

I've worn it out, but I had a tee shirt the color of red dirt found in "red rock" country, that said on the back "Older Than Dirt". Humorous to be sure, but it's how I feel sometimes as I sit on the cusp of the far side of middle age. I'm in my early 60's now, and the world I came into is passing away. It's not just that my body isn't as dynamic as it once was, but the moral values that contributed to a stable civilization is passing out of existence.

I've thought for many years the Victorians had it right, and the morals and values of the mid-twentieth century were correct. There are behaviors the rend the social fabric, but in previous times these were indulged in quietly, behind closed doors. Now we do such things openly with braggadocio. I can't see we are better off for it.

When I was in high school in the 1960's it was a shock when a girl got pregnant. Premarital sex was something most of us didn't even consider; it wasn't a good thing. I recently saw a vid with Ann Coulter and John Stossel in an auditorium filled with young libertarians. Coulter said divorce was too easy, it's violation of a contract. The idea was met with boos and hisses. I think now people enter into marriage no longer viewing it as a sacred relationship and as entirely disposable. The family is all but destroyed since marriage has become that, and we're moving toward marriage meaning a State sanctioned coupling of anyone. Our schools are being allowed to teach first and second graders that homosexuality is a desirable thing. In my school days, we didn't get sex ed until seventh grade, I think. Homosexuality, and I don't care who you're poking, is not normative, yet it's being promoted over cross sex relationships. 

When I was a kid, most everybody went to church. There we were in contact with all ages, and there was continuity and exposure to other's knowledge and wisdom. It's were we were taught ethics and values that formed the foundation of our society. How we were to treat people, how and why to serve others.  That and our families were the focus and center of our lives. Life was in fact more simple then.

Things fall apart. There now exists the idea since these values can't be lived up to, don't even try. If one does try, and fails, you're a hypocrite. I remember studying existentialism in high school and college, and part of that philosophy was nihilism. From Wikipedia: Nihilism is the philosophical doctrine suggesting the negation of one or more putatively meaningful aspects of life. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism, which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value. Moral nihilists assert that morality does not inherently exist, and that any established moral values are abstractly contrived. Nihilism can also take epistemological or metaphysical/ontological forms, meaning respectively that, in some aspect, knowledge is not possible, or that reality does not actually exist.  [emphasis mine]

From that I ponder if our country, our civilization, is too far gone into nihilism. Any behavior is acceptable, even if it destroys the family (the foundation of civilization), exploits kids sexually (pedophilia is on the rise and becoming more acceptable, parents dressing their daughters like street walkers as examples), and destroys the Church, the foundation of care and charity, the source of moral teaching. Now that schools have become the source of that, the moral teaching is any traditional behavior is to be rejected, religion is to be rejected along with the church, pastors and priests are to be reviled and mocked and replaced by the State and politicians. Politicians are now the priests. Judges wear priestly robes, but ignore the law; interpret it anyway they want. Together they enforce the secular religion of the State.

We have degenerated in moral relativity and nihilism. It saddens me that 5000 plus years of tyranny being the norm of civilization, the United States comes along and rights things with the Declaration and Constitution, providing law based on moral Judeo-Christian foundations, and that is being rejected in favor of returning to tyranny and the embracing of a meaningless existence except pleasing one's self, mostly materially.

Despite all the problems existing in my childhood, life was simpler then, and I would say better. Many of those problems were resolved or at least partially corrected, but it was because of Faith, Family, Communion and Service with each other.

Life was simpler then. This is from the Monkey's song “Only Shades of Gray” and I share this lament (though it meant something different when I was a kid).

When the world and I were young,
Just yesterday.
Life was such a simple game
A child could play.
                            
It was easy then to tell right from wrong.
Easy then to tell weak from strong.
When a man should stand and fight,
Or just go along.
                             
 Refrain:
But today there is no day or night
Today there is no dark or light.
Today there is no black or white,
Only shades of gray.
                             
I remember when the answers seemed so clear
We had never lived with doubt or tasted fear.
It was easy then to tell truth from lies
Selling out from compromise
What to love and what to hate,
The foolish from the wise.
                             
It was easy then to know what was fair
When to keep and when to share.
How much to protect your heart
And how much to care.

 In case you're not  familiar with the Monkees

This lament combined with aging and what comes with it. Once again from much rejected scripture.

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come And the years approach of which you will say, I have no pleasure in them; Before the sun is darkened. and the light, and the moon, and the stars, while the clouds return after the rain; When the guardians of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, And the grinders are idle because they are few, and they who look through the windows grow blind; When the doors to the street are shut, and the sound of the mill is low; When one waits for the chirp of a bird, but all the daughters of song are suppressed; And one fears heights, and perils in the street; When the almond tree blooms, and the locust grows sluggish and the caper berry is without effect, Because man goes to his lasting home, and mourners go about the streets; Before the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is broken, And the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the broken pulley falls into the well, And the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the life breath returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, all things are vanity! (Ecclesiastes 12:1-8)

Things fall apart. I lament the falling apart of our nation's traditional mores and values, but don't lament my aging. I embrace it. I'm saddened that following generations may not know the sweetness of liberty and making decisions and judgments for oneself. 

Rep. Allen West - "Obama, Reid, Pelosi, get the hell out of the USA"

http://youtu.be/o8YDnd1Yoyk

Crossroads: Political, Cultural, Religious...The Danger of Losing Liberties of All Three to Tyranny

Both vids about 20mins each, but a must watch. Skip a part of the football game or the TV show. Replace it with this. It's good for Conservatives, Christians, Traditionalists to watch as a warning for us to step up and protect our Liberties. Leftists and their Socialist Bosses in the Democrat Party will not watch because they want to see the United States reduced to Tyranny and Israel destroyed, or are "useful idiots". We're at a crossroads, an epic battle between Liberty and Tyranny, Good and Evil.

From the Vids:

“Here’s where we’re headed.  Possibility — World War III. Because Israel has a right to survive, Israel has a right to live, the Jews have a right to be left alone by the rest of the world — they will defend themselves, as they should. [...]
Guaranteed anti-Semitism not seen since the 1930s.  Guaranteed economic — not depression; collapse.  Collapse.  And civil war.  You cannot put this genie back in the bottle.
But there is something else.  There’s something that I’d like to focus on here.  These things are coming.  But so is this.  Healing.  Healing and profound light, should we choose it.  Now.

Part 1



Part 2

Libertine or Liberty?

I had written earlier about Man and God and liberty. I noted that through my evolution from Marxist to Conservative Christian I had noticed something. The idea of liberty and freedom comes through scripture. The Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, and Constitution all draw from Scripture. (For those interested, the best analysis of this is M. Stanton Evans’ The Theme is Freedom.) The Leftist or Statist view of freedom is being a slave to the material; Marx, Engels, Lenin and Rousseau were all atheists, anti-Christian and anti-Semitic. Our society has been following and applying their ideology since the early 20^th century and look where we are.

As we watch the decaying of America, it’s noticeable the liberty is being confused with libertine. I remember listening to a Los Angeles talk show host that called himself a libertarian, but he was no more that a libertine. It was all about what brings on pleasure. If it feels good, do it, as the 60’s slogan said.

We have a legal system the puts the rights of criminals above the safety of citizens. We have government and citizens thinking have the debt monkey on our backs, personally and nationally, is a good thing. Sex above relationships. Disposable marriages. We all know the litany of things dragging down doing right, good and moral things.

Augustine:  For of a perverse will, was a lust made; and a lust served, became custom; and custom not resisted, became necessity. (Confessions 8.5)  Or as the Doobie Brothers put it, “What were once vices are now virtues”.

True liberty, true freedom, comes from having the discipline to live a scriptural base life. God directs us through scripture to a right kind of life. Christ died the way he did to give us the opportunity to wipe the slate clean of our bad thoughts and behaviors. That’s the hard way. The anti-scriptural is the easy way, and doesn’t lead to freedom.

Romans: "…because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."

http://youtu.be/U1xEL6CGA5o

We Still Hold These Truths

 Our first principles for a free nation. This is a powerful reminder of what our nation is, and what we must resist if we wish to remain free.

http://bcove.me/yao33vu5

Grains of Liberty

One of the ancient and less known Greek philosophers, Eubulides, made an observation about a heap of sand. If one took away a single grain from the heap, it would still be a heap. Take away two grains, and you’ve still got a heap. The question becomes how many grains of sand have to be removed from the heap before it's no longer a heap of sand?

How many grains of liberty have to be taken away before we have no liberty?

Energy, the life blood of our liberty. The grains being taken away? No oil refining plants built in decades. One grain. No nuclear energy allowed. Two grains. No offshore drilling. Three grains. No new oil wells allowed. Four grains. Those and all the unemployed energy workers equal how many grains? No processing of shale for oil is a grain. No Alaska north shore drilling is a grain.

ObamaCare and all the limitations on choice are how many grains of liberty taken away? The legislation requires a citizen to purchase health insurance whether he/she wants it or not, under penalty of imprisonment, fine, or both. One grain. One can go through this legislation that was passed a year ago, around midnight on Christmas Eve by one political party, and find lots of grains of liberty being taken away.  

Sales tax, property tax, income tax, usage taxes and fees totaled together removes about half of each citizen's income and redistributes it to the government. How many grains of liberty do we loose? How much more liberty could you have if your income were say, 35% more, allowing the government a much smaller portion of the grains that give you economic liberty? How many grains of liberty are lost when those tax dollars are given to multi-$trillion companies, their CEO’s and boards, that take that money, turn it around and finance the political campaigns of the politicians that gave them that money?

How many grains of liberty are lost when citizens give up our forth amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure when we want to fly?

How many grains of liberty are lost when children come out of the government education monopoly not knowing about mathematics, literature, history, the Constitution, or how to be a free thinker?

How many grains of liberty are lost when the government tells us what we can eat? The glaring example of this is San Francisco passing legislation telling businesses that stock vending machines what they can put in them, that McDonald’s happy meals are made illegal, or the city council of New York City telling chefs how much salt they can use in their dishes.

How many grains of liberty are lost when an enemy foreign country, China, controls our two and a half $trillion debt, and another enemy bent on our destruction, Russia, comes ever so close to dictating our military strategy and missile defense in Europe? How many grains of liberty are lost when Islamofacist countries build up giant military forces and are close to having nuclear weapons, and nothing is done?

How many grains of liberty are taken away when majority of citizens say to the elites, enough is enough, quit taking so much of our money, stop making so many laws that we can hardly breathe a breath of freedom; and for saying that, vilified and called Nazis, fascists, racists, homophobes and bigots, violent when there is not violence, haters when there is no hate, instead of being listened to.

How many grains are taken away when the right to freedom of religion in the Constitution becomes the tool for the repression of religion; primarily Christianity while giving a pass to Islamofacism?

How many grains of liberty are lost when politicians are voted out of office in protest of their taking away so many of our liberties and so much of our money, and use the last weeks of their power to continue trying to pass legislation that they were thrown out of office for trying to pass in the first place?

How many grains of liberty are lost when states on the border pass legislation to protect themselves because the federal government won't, and the citizens are getting raped, robbed and murdered, and the federal government sues the states for trying to protect themselves? 

At what point does the heap of liberty cease to be a heap? 

The Choice

"Make Mine Freedom" ~ 1948

Lessons in free minds and free markets

The Last Best Hope

If you believe in low taxes, limited government and liberty, this'll make you stand and cheer.

A Personal Politcal Mood

Tonight, I'm not in an optimistic mood, or having optimistic thoughts. I try to stay away from politics on the weekend, and think about things regarding my Faith, religion and culture, and what's going on in those realms. This weekend I had a bit of a tiff with some Statist friends. They believe the myth of FDR, that he handled the Depression well, even though all economic evidence, GDP, unemployment numbers etc. show his programs were an abysmal failure. (Current Administration is doing exactly the same thing with the same results.) As usual when challenged and can't support their argument, Leftists make the Ad hominem attack (insulting or belittling one's opponent in order to invalidate their argument). I responded, this was on Facebook, but took it down. I broke my rule of withdrawing when that happens. I have friends that have "unfriended" me, or hid me on other social sites because they don't want to hear any opposing view; it "upsets" them. This saddens me. I search out opposition, I want to know what others are thinking. These are personal friends in the real world, not cyber world.

Statists believe in the Keynesian economic model of borrowing and spending money to get out of a national recession or depression. It failed in the Soviet Union, China, Venezuela, Cuba, every African country that tried it, every South American country that tried it, every Middle Eastern/Islamist country, North Korea...the list goes on. Yet every time, people in this country that thrive from the foundations of liberty, law, tradition, religious principles, reject them for Stalinism, Leninism, Maoism, Fascism, Communism; willingly becoming useful idiots.

Resisting this, people that desire liberty, that desire to make their own decisions about how they want to live their lives, have a few radio talk show hosts, a cable news station that gives a platform for dissenters against the reign of Statism, and some bloggers, essayists, and think tanks.

The Statists, that even tell us what kind of toilets and light bulbs are acceptable, have all the major TV and Radio news outlets, all the major newspaper outlets, most governorships, state legislatures, Congress, the Executive Branch, most all judges in the Judiciary, the Arts, film and theater culture, and their endless lists of fascist groups that want to force the rest of us to live according to their dictates. Yet they still bitch they don't get their way. With the exception of a few "out" years, Democrats have controlled most of the political and economic agenda of the 20th century, and much of the first decade of this century. Their Stalinist propaganda machine is magnificent. We have Back Panthers intimidating voters, ACORN controlling votes, gender studies, the "New Left", Environmentalists, feminists (that only support Leftist women, are are most vile hateful misogynists if the woman is conservative), undocumented workers (undocumented Democrats), and all the rest.

These people are critical of non violent protest by middle class citizens against high taxes and profligate spending, yet give a pass to Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. This is the same mindset that had Leftists in the 1930's denying Stalin's purges and the planned famine in Ukraine. Same thinking, and that terrifies me. Look at the paragraph above and how much influence and power they have, that they didn't have then. FDR laid the ground work for this.

For the five or six thousand years of civilization humankind lived under the tyranny of a king of some sort, a tiny political elite, and a couple hundred years ago our Constitution was written. The people on this continent experience more freedom, and as result more creativity in every life endeavor. Now the people in power have turned the rock foundation of America into the sand foundation of Amerika.

It's 114 days until election day. I hope and pray that enough of the people that believe that printing money, borrowing money, bribing fat cat capitalists, supporters of Islamofascism, and all the other useful idiots get thrown out before the most free, charitable, wealthiest nation ever in history sees its Roman fall.

Like I said, I'm not in too optimistic mood tonight. It may be because people I know, and that are smart, think Stalinism and Fascism are better than the capitalism and liberty they now enjoy.

Tomorrow, all bets are off, and I'll support truth telling, liberty loving people. Then I'll challenge again, until the inevitable Ad hominem attack of the useful idiots that support the destruction of liberty in this country; then try again the next discussion. These people must must must be defeated.

Preferences

Milton and Rose Friedman:

Believers in aristocracy and socialism share a faith in centralized rule, in rule by command rather than by voluntary cooperation. They differ in who should rule: whether an elite determined by birth or experts supposedly chosen on merit. Both proclaim, no doubt sincerely, that they wish to promote the well-being of the "general public," that they know what is in the "public interest" and how to obtain it better than the ordinary person. Both, therefore, profess a paternalistic philosophy.

You know what, I don't want anybody but me looking out for me. Don't need some knucklehead that's a good test taker (and doesn't know squat about real life) taking my money and telling me what I should do with my life. I don't want anybody but me and my friends and family looking out for me and my family. I don't want anybody but regular ordinary people looking out for regular ordinary people. I truly believe in the the collective intelligence of people. What we have now are the successful test takers passing out privilege and preferences to whatever preferred group they want. If you have the right racial, sexual or social orientation, you get special preferences enforced by law. If you're an ordinary citizen, not belonging to a preferred group, well hey...tough, too bad so sad. Instead of preferences set by those in power, perhaps we can apply "content of his character" and "all men created equal". Preferences enforced by the believers in aristocracy and socialism, deciding which group gets what, denies liberty. It denies choice. People caring for each other provides choices, liberty and abundance. People don't starve because of lack of food, people starve because of the decisions the believers in aristocracy and socialism make.

Who benefits? The man or woman that works his/her way out of poverty, or takes preference money from the the power elite? Who benefits? Who benefits from the thousands of pages of tax code. The middle class worker, or the who-do-ya-know-to-give-you-a-tax-break preferred group, or the member of a preferred group?

There's these guys, Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, and they think, as 'social scientists', they can "design choice environments that make it easier for people to choose what is best for themselves, their families, and their society". The want to give you only the choices they, and their fellow believers in aristocracy and socialism, think you should have. I got my degree in social science, and Comte was the guy...social science applied will do best by humanity. Don't know about you, but I'd rather decide for myself what I should have.

What's your choice? Be Pavlov's dog? Or Liberty?

Glad We Live in a Post Racial America X

We're in to the tenth month of this presidency that Obama and his Statist supporters said would be a new post-partisan and post racial America. I think we can safely say that we now live in a post-president era. This guy has accomplished nothing but increased partisanship and racism from the Left.

Here are more examples of Leftist racism, in my tenth installment chronicling Statist racism.

Chris Matthews of "Hardball", of ever lyin' infamy with his guests Norah O'Donnell and Salon's Joan Walsh, on the racial makeup of the crowds going to Sarah Palin's book signings.

O'Donnell: "This is a largely white -- almost no minorities in this crowd." (She was reporting from the scene of the crime.)

Matthews: Well, they look like a white crowd to me." "I think there is a tribal aspect to this thing, in other words, white vs. other people."

Walsh: "I think you`ve got that same kind of paranoid tea party, maybe even birther crowd that talks about the Constitution, without really understanding what they are talking about." Of course, you racist rubes, you're stupid too! I mean really, why would you choose Liberty over being a ward of the State?

We have race hustler and extortionist Jesse Jackson chiming in. At the Congressional Black Caucus, “You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.”

There's a movie coming out, the TRUE story of Michael Oher, "The Blind Side". He was homeless, uneducated, and was adopted by a white family. They sent him to a private school, which got him educated enough to get into college where he was put on the Dean's List. From there to professional football player. Guess what? This is a racist movie because it's about white people helping black person.

Huffington Post, Mark Blankenship: “The song (in the trailer) is called ‘How to Save a Life,’ a title that suggests the trailer’s breathtaking paternalism.” (Paternalistic: A policy or practice of treating or governing people in a fatherly manner, especially by providing for their needs without giving them rights or responsibilities.) Does that mean these good people that helped this young man just gave him good grades, and he just happened to, without dedication and hard work, end up a pro football player?

Post racial indeed. We obviously live in a post-shame world too.

Can Obama and Congress Order You to Buy Broccoli? By Terence Jeffrey

Can President Barack Obama and Congress enact legislation that orders Americans to buy broccoli? If so, where did they get that authority? What provision in the Constitution empowers the federal government to order an individual to buy a product he does not want?

This is not a question about nutrition. It is not a question about whether broccoli is good for you or about the relative merits of broccoli versus other foods. It is a question about the constitutional limits on the power of the federal government. It is a question about freedom.

Can President Obama and Congress enact legislation that orders Americans to buy health insurance? They might as well order Americans to buy broccoli. They have no legitimate authority to do either. Yet neither Obama nor the current leadership in Congress seems to care about the constitutional limits on their power.

Full Article here.

Satire Anyone?

"Conservative arguments against President Obama are becoming increasingly silly. They oppose Obama rescuing businesses despite all the jobs on the line, they're against government taking control of health care from soulless insurance companies, and they oppose increased taxes on energy consumption despite the sorry state of the environment. And why do they oppose these most sensible actions? Because of their irrational, brain-dead obsession with liberty. Of course, everyone likes freedom -- to a point -- but there are a number of loud, stupid Americans who just take it to ridiculous extremes. They hoard their freedoms like greedy little dwarfs hoarding gold when they have little actual use for most of it. People need rules and order and guidance, but they hardly ever need liberty. Liberty doesn't feed your family. Liberty doesn't heal you when you're sick. Liberty doesn't educate your children. A strong government can do all those things, but apparently that's against liberty. ... Just look at this ludicrous debate over health care reform. Of course the government should provide health care for everyone; how obvious can anything be? The government has the money and smart people working for everyone's interests to make sure all get health care, so why would anyone be against that? Because apparently people aren't 'free' to make their health care choices for themselves. ... Real freedom is not having to worry about health care, and that's what you get when you have the government take it over. Yes, you'll have little control over who gets what kind of care, but some people will just have to suffer some for the betterment of the whole. The advantage of having the government in control is that it makes sure the fewest number suffer, and those that do aren't particularly important. ... Most of the civilized world has moved beyond this uncompromising view of 'freedom' -- if they were ever foolish enough to adopt it in the first place. Can you think of any other country that would permit its citizens to have guns like America does? Of course not; that's beyond moronic. People know freedom is a dangerous, scary thing, and you have to be careful how much you tolerate." --Frank J. Fleming

The whole satirical article here.

Barry Goldwater- Quotable Quotes

"Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed. Their mistaken course stems from false notions of equality, ladies and gentlemen. Equality, rightly understood, as our founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation of creative differences. Wrongly understood, as it has been so tragically in our time, it leads first to conformity and then to despotism."

"I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!"

"My faith in the future rests squarely on the belief that man, if he doesn't first destroy himself, will find new answers in the universe, new technologies, new disciplines, which will contribute to a vastly different and better world in the twenty-first century. Recalling what has happened in my short lifetime in the fields of communication and transportation and the life sciences, I marvel at the pessimists who tell us that we have reached the end of our productive capacity, who project a future of primarily dividing up what we now have and making do with less. To my mind the single essential element on which all discoveries will be dependent is human freedom."

Quotable Quotes on Rights & Gov't Control

"Isn't the point of the Democrats' push to reform the health care system based on establishing health care as a right? That's what the politicians say of course. But in reality the result will be the exact opposite. Part of the problem is that most Americans don't understand what a right is. A right is not a guarantee that the government (i.e., other people) will provide you something for free. We have the right to engage in religious expression, but that doesn't mean that the government pays for the construction of the church. We have the right to peacefully assemble, but the government doesn't promise to supply your transportation. You have the right to keep and bear arms, but don't expect the government to provide you with a free firearm and bullets. You have the right to free speech, but the government won't grant you free radio or TV air time. What makes something a right is not whether the government can force somebody else to pay for it. What defines something as a right is whether the government can or cannot prohibit you from doing it. (President Obama notoriously called these 'negative liberties'.) If the government can't stop you from doing it, then it's a right." --columnist Rich Hrebic

"Suffice it to say that if government attempts to control our total medical spending, sooner or later, it will have to control us. ... Like the politicians, most people are oblivious to F.A. Hayek's insight that the critical information needed to run an economy -- or even 15 percent of one -- doesn't exist in any one place where it is accessible to central planners. Instead, it is scattered piecemeal among millions of people. All those people put together are far wiser and better informed than Congress could ever be. Only markets -- private property, free exchange and the price system -- can put this knowledge at the disposal of entrepreneurs and consumers, ensuring the system will serve the people and not just the political class. This is no less true for medical care than for food, clothing and shelter. ... The belief that [politicians] can take care of us is rank superstition. Who will save us from these despots? What Adam Smith said about the economic planner applies here, too: The politician who tries to design the medical marketplace would 'assume an authority which could safely be trusted, not only to no single person, but to no council or senate whatever, and which would nowhere be so dangerous as in the hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it.'" --John Stossel

Quotable Quotes

"Government can do something for the people only in proportion as it can do something to the people." -- Thomas Jefferson

"That [tyrannical government] power is absolute, minute, regular, provident and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent if, like that authority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks, on the contrary, to keep them in perpetual childhood: it is well content that the people should rejoice, provided they think of nothing but rejoicing. For their happiness such a government willingly labors, but it chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter of that happiness; it provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal concerns, directs their industry, regulates the descent of property, and subdivides their inheritances: what remains, but to spare them all the care of thinking and all the trouble of living?" --French historian Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)

"Most of us imagine the transformation of a free society to a tyrannical state in Hollywood terms, as a melodramatic act of violence like a military coup or an armed insurrection. [Alexis de] Tocqueville knows better. He foresees a slow death of freedom. The power of the centralized government will gradually expand, meddling in every area of our lives until, like a lobster in a slowly heated pot, we are cooked without ever realizing what has happened. The ultimate horror of Tocqueville's vision is that we will welcome it, and even convince ourselves that we control it. There is no single dramatic event in Tocqueville's scenario, no storming of the Bastille, no assault on the Winter Palace, no March on Rome, no Kristallnacht. We are to be immobilized, Gulliver-like, by myriad rules and regulations, annoying little restrictions that become more and more binding until they eventually paralyze us. ... Permitting the central government to assume our proper responsibilities is not merely a transfer of power from us to them; it does grave damage to our spirit. It subverts our national character. In Tocqueville's elegant construction, it 'renders the exercise of the free agency of man less useful and less frequent; it circumscribes the will within a narrower range and gradually robs a man of all the uses of himself.' Once we go over the edge toward the pursuit of material wealth, our energies uncoil, and we become meek, quiescent and flaccid in the defense of freedom." --author Michael Ledeen