The Stories and Novels By Derek Ward
What we have to deal with in the case of “social justice†is simply a quasireligious superstition of the kind which we should respectfully leave in peace so long as it merely makes those happy who hold it, but which we must fight when it becomes the pretext of coercing other men.
F.A. Hayek
H/t reader David
They call themselves liberals, but they are intent upon abolishing liberty. They call themselves democrats, but they yearn for dictatorship. They call themselves revolutionaries, but want to make the government omnipotent. They promise the blessings of the Garden of Eden, but they plan to transform the world into a gigantic post office. Every man but one a subordinate clerk in a bureau. What an alluring utopia! What a noble cause to fight!
Ludwig Von Mises
Censorship is telling a man he can’t have a steak because a baby can’t chew it.
Mark Twain
Considering the speech codes on so many college campuses, I think this is quite apt.
Democracy and liberty are not the same. Democracy is little more than mob rule, while liberty refers to the sovereignty of the individual.
Dr. Walter Williams
Whoever wishes peace among peoples must fight statism.
Ludwig Von Mises
Does legality establish morality? Slavery was legal; apartheid was legal; the Nazi’s Nuremberg laws were legal; the Stalinist and Maoist purges were legal. The fact of legality does not justify these crimes. Legality alone cannot be the guide for moral people.
Dr. Walter Williams
Much to the horror of the hard religious right and social conservatives.
Personally, I’d be much happier if government would just GTFO of marriage and let the individuals make contracts among themselves. Defense of personal liberty and the enforcement of contracts should be two of the core reaponsibilities of government.
I was surprised when I heard that Justice Thomas dissented, because I’ve always considered him such a strong proponent of liberty. His basic idea was that the gay couples were not restricted from liberty by the band as specified under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments would have my agreement, except that in the current legal environment private contracts do not have the same legal standing as officially sanctioned marriage. Ilya Somin does a good job of critiquing Justice Thomas’s dissent here.
The fatal attraction of government is that it allows busybodies to impose decisions on others without paying any price themselves.
Thomas Sowell
Imagine the government going to retailers and telling them what is the minimum price they must sell specific goods. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the government says the reason is to bolster competition. I wish it was a thought experiment, but it’s the reality in Tennessee:
Under a new state law, Tennessee retailers will have to charge smokers at least 15 percent more than the wholesale cost. The surcharge is theirs to keep.
That increase follows last year’s law requiring supermarkets to sell wine at least 20 percent above cost and another longstanding 10 percent markup on milk. State law refers to those margins as “the cost of doing business.â€
Before someone starts screaming about liberal Democrats, this is a state with a Republican governor and a Republican controlled legislature.
Tell me again how different the Republicans are from the Democrats.
H/t Uncle
Democracy? I want nothing to do with a system which operates on the premise that my rights don’t exist simply because I’m outnumbered.