Tag: James Buchanan

Liberty behind a fence - Free Image antonio ferreira

Notable Quote – Limiting Restrictions on Liberty is always a “Public Good”

July 20, 2021

by Skip

The restrictions on ‘natural liberty’ surely constitute ‘public bads’, from which it follows that their removal would be equivalent to the production of ‘public goods’. And surely these ‘public goods’ would increase the utility of persons in the community more than the sometimes piddling adjustments that are suggested for correcting minor market distortions. Smith would … Read more

Notable Quote – Richard Wagner

January 14, 2020

by Skip

The robust commercial republic that emerged through this constitution of liberty clearly warranted the designation of American exceptionalism. That exceptionalism has been under assault for around a century now as the consensual principle upon which the American regime was founded has come increasingly to give way to the factional principle, whereby government becomes an instrument … Read more

Notable Quote – James Buchanan and Roger Congleton

January 9, 2020January 9, 2020

by Skip

It is evident that a constraint or limit on the taxing power or authority of government means little unless this constraint is also accompanied by constraints on the spending power. If a government can implement direct transfers in a discriminatory manner, then members of any ruling coalition can capture for themselves any desired share of … Read more

Notable Quote – James Buchanan on Socialism

October 5, 2019October 5, 2019

by Skip

The socialist vision of politicized control-regulation of economic interaction has by no means been exorcised from the modern mind-set despite the evidence from reason or from history.

Notable Quote – James Buchanan

December 7, 2018

by Skip

Once a governmental program is instituted, a specific clientele is born, with clearly defined interests in both the maintenance and expansion of the program’s benefits. These interests make themselves felt politically, with the familiar concentration of pressures toward expansion as opposed to the dissipated opposition reflected in the generality of the taxes used to finance … Read more