Happy 4th of July

So, Happy 4th of July everyone.

As this election cycle comes around, we're fortunate that we have candidates with such vastly different ideologies that we may actually encounter a debate regarding broader issues of policy.  I hope that the size of government might be one of those, given the last 16 years of highly-and-increasingly sized centralized executive branch. 

In my blog, I've unabashedly shared my views on religion, so, why not blow some remaining taboos and talk about politics?  First off, I predicted in May that Barack would be the next president.  I wanted to take *this* blog post and make it clear that, although it's my prediction, it's not my aspiration.  I will either vote for Bob Barr or write in Ron Paul.  Now that you know where I stand, I hope that you might be entertained by the following, a few quotes that I particularly love that seem to be particularly germane on this, the day of celebration of our freedom and liberty:

“Public works are not accomplished by the miraculous power of a magic wand. They are paid for by funds taken away from the citizens. - ”Ludwig von Mises

We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. – Winston Churchill

Do not consider Collectivists as "sincere but deluded idealists". The proposal to enslave some men for the sake of others is not an ideal; brutality is not "idealistic," no matter what its purpose. Do not ever say that the desire to "do good" by force is a good motive. Neither power-lust nor stupidity are good motives. – Ayn Rand

They have gun control in Cuba. They have universal health care in Cuba. So why do they want to come here? – Paul Harvey

I'm in favor of legalizing drugs. According to my value system, if people want to kill themselves, they have every right to do so. Most of the harm that comes from drugs is because they are illegal. – Milton Friedman

Government is not the solution, but rather the cause of our problems. – Ronald Reagan

Greedy capitalists get money by trade. Good liberals steal it. – David Friedman 

Government should stay the hell out of people's business. – Senator Barry Goldwater 

Powerful government tends to draw into it people with bloated egos, people who think they know more than everyone else and have little hesitance in coercing their fellow man. Or as Nobel Laureate Friedrich Hayek said, "in government, the scum rises to the top". – Walter E. Williams

When words lose their meaning, people lose their liberty. – Confucius (note from Greg: Like "Patriot" in the title "Patriot Act" maybe?)

If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand. – Milton Friedman

As government expands, liberty contracts. – Ronald W. Reagan

A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away. – Barry Goldwater

No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the sources of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed, and love of power. – P. J. O'Rourke

It's illegal to say to a voter "Here's $100, vote for me." So what do the politicians do? They offer the $100 in the form of Health Care, Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, Food Stamps, tobacco subsidies, grain payments, NEA payments, and jobs programs. – Don Farrar - average guy, age 51

There never was a good war or a bad peace. – Benjamin Franklin

(note from Greg: I've contended for many years that Libertarianism and not Liberalism is the most consistent political stance for Buddhists, this Ben Franklin quote, the next James Madison one and a few more sprinkled later inform why)

Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few … No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. – James Madison

The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite." – Thomas Jefferson

Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none. – Thomas Jefferson

In increasing numbers, Americans believe that it is the responsibility – nay, the duty – of the federal government to take the earnings of some Americans and redistribute them to other Americans for various and sundry "good" reasons including "fairness." Citizens who know it is wrong to use force to take money from a neighbor have rationalized that it is OK for the government to do it for them. – Linda Bowles

It took about 150 years, starting with a Bill of Rights that reserved to the states and the people all powers not explicitly delegated to the federal government, to produce a Supreme Court willing to rule that growing corn to feed to your own hogs is interstate commerce and can therefore be regulated by Congress. – David Friedman

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess of the public treasury. From that time on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the results that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.” - Sir Alexander Fraser Tytler

 

“Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.”  – P.J. O'Rourke

 

We have a system that increasingly taxes work and subsidizes non-work. – Milton Friedman

 

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. – James Bovard

 
It is not the responsibility of the government or the legal system to protect a citizen from himself. – Justice Casey Percell

Opium and morphine are certainly dangerous, habit-forming drugs. But once the principle is admitted that it is the duty of the government to protect the individual against his own foolishness, no serious objections can be advanced against further encroachments … Is not the harm a man can inflict on his mind and soul even more disastrous than any bodily evils.? Why not prevent him from reading bad books and bad plays, from looking at bad paintings and statues and from hearing bad music? The mischief done by bad ideologies, surely, is much more pernicious both for the individual and for the whole society, than that done by narcotic drugs. – Ludwig Von Mises

That government is best which governs least. – Henry David Thoreau

Every movement that seeks to enslave a country, every dictatorship or potential dictatorship, needs some minority group as a scapegoat which it can blame for the nation's troubles and use as a justification of its own demand for dictatorial powers. In Soviet Russia, the scapegoat was the bourgeoisie; in Nazi Germany, it was the Jewish people; in America, it is the businessmen. – Ayn Rand

Government never furthered any enterprise but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way. – Henry David Thoreau

Government at its best is a necessary evil, and at its worst, an intolerant one. – Thomas Paine

The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations. – David Friedman

Everything government touches turns to crap. – Ringo Starr

When politics are used to allocate resources, the resources all end up being allocated to politics." – P.J. O'Rourke

Consider Social Security. The young have always contributed to the support of the old. Earlier, the young helped their own parents out of a sense of love and duty. They now contribute to the support of someone else's parents out of compulsion and fear. The voluntary transfers strengthened the bonds of the family; the compulsory transfers weaken those bonds. – Milton Friedman

One of the things the government can't do is run anything. The only things our government runs are the post office and the railroads, and both of them are bankrupt. – Lee Iacocca

When the government fears the people, it is liberty. When the people fear the government, it is tyranny. – Thomas Paine

The standard of living of the common man is higher in those countries which have the greatest number of wealthy entrepreneurs. – Ludwig von Mises

Popular suffrage is in itself no guarantee of freedom. People can vote themselves into slavery. – Frank Chodorov 

The war on "terror" will never be over, it will just change locations. Like the war on drugs, prostitution, pornography, and the many others that will follow, it is a war on humanity. These wars will never be won; the State will just keep creating new boogiemen to frighten us with. The sheep will anxiously anticipate the next fall guy the State offers up as a sacrifice for the war on whatever happens to be next. Be careful, the next pawn could be me or you. - Mike Wasdin 

A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trusts either of them. – P. J. O'Rourke

Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. – George Washington

Depressions and mass unemployment are not caused by the free market but by government interference in the economy. – Ludwig von Mises

In 1950, the average family of four paid 2% of its earnings to federal taxes. Today it pays 24%– William R. Mattox, Jr. (sometime before 1996)

The difference between death and taxes is, death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets. – Will Rogers 

And finally, here's one from the creator of the New Deal himself:
If we do not halt this steady process of building commissions and regulatory bodies and the special legislation like huge inverted pyramids over every one of the simple constitutional provisions, we shall soon be spending many billions of dollars more. – Franklin D. Roosevelt

If you're wondering "what you are" and are willing to consider that there are FOUR aspects to the political scale (as opposed to the left-Democrat, right-Republican duality that we commonly are presented), take 3 minutes and fill this out:
http://www.theadvocates.org/quizp/index.html

(I take this quiz about once a year.  I've scored at its apex for ~16 years now)

All the best,

 - Greg