James Buchanan Archives

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

by Skip / 20 July 2021 20 July 2021

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 …

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Notable Quote – Richard Wagner

by Skip / 14 January 2020 14 January 2020

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 …

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Notable Quote – James Buchanan and Roger Congleton

by Skip / 9 January 2020 9 January 2020

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 …

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Notable Quote – James Buchanan on Socialism

by Skip / 5 October 2019 5 October 2019

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

by Skip / 7 December 2018 7 December 2018

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 …

Notable Quote – James Buchanan Read More »

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

Notable Quote – Richard Wagner

Notable Quote – James Buchanan and Roger Congleton

Notable Quote – James Buchanan on Socialism

Notable Quote – James Buchanan

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