“Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples’ liberty’s teeth.” – George Washington, first President of the United States
“…when John Q. Citizen gives a hundred sous to a Government officer and receives nothing for them unless it be annoyances, he might as well give them to a thief. It is nonsense to say that the Government officer will spend these hundred sous to the great profit of national labor; the thief would do … Read more
I’ve been hearing cries for “compromise” from the usual gun control proponents. Funny, but in a real compromise, both sides give something up. What CURRENT gun control laws are they prepared to repeal in return any new laws they’d like to enact? None, of course. Which is why the call for compromise is a cynical … Read more
“Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” – George Washington, first President of the United States
“Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the government take care of him had better take a closer look at the American Indian.” – Henry Ford, founder – Ford Motor Corporation (H/T: Maggie’s Farm)
American Exceptionalism contains the notion that government is a necessary evil, requiring containment and strict limitations by a virtuous people and a muscular Constitution to handcuff the state. The state is the enemy of individual freedom. – The Barrister (H/T: Maggie’s Farm)
Note – the real reason for the Second Amendment: “We, the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow men who pervert the Constitution.” – Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America
Imprimis – On Progressivism and the despotism it will bring: The experts who run the modern bureaucratic state think they are architects of a perfectly rational society. They think of themselves as scientists, and of the running of government as something more like science—the science of administration—than politics. They think they can coordinate society comprehensively … Read more
“For Conservative thinkers believe that man is corrupt, that his appetites need restraint, and that the forces of custom, authority, law, and government, as well as moral discipline, are required to keep sin in check.”
-Quintin Hogg
John Adams
“Experience has ever shown, that education, as well as religion, aristocracy, as well as democracy and monarchy, are, singly, totally inadequate to the business of restraining the passions of men, of preserving a steady government, and protecting the lives, liberties, and properties of the people.”
Imprimis: In a discussion with Hugh Hewitt, on the weakness / tyranny of Progressivism: No, and I don’t mean that. What I mean is that the principles of Progressivism that animate our government today, which are antithetical to the principles of the American Founding, lead to policies that cannot work, will not work, and result … Read more
I have been getting Imprimis (a monthly commentary from Hillsdale College) for a while now. I had kept this one, entitled “Individual, Community, and State: How to Think About Religious Freedom” as it has a number of things to reflect upon: Fourth, the power of government, necessary as it is to maintaining a shared moral … Read more
From Imprimis: But—fifth—short of such cases, the state should respect, honor, and even foster the role of religious communities and institutions as essential contributors to civil society. In crucial respects they are expressions of something still more basic to the flourishing of the human personality than is the political order itself. The modern secular state … Read more
“… it is more than slightly ironic that Democrats, the fiercely pro-choice party, reserve free choice for aborting a fetus while denying it for such matters as choosing your child’s school or joining a union.” – Charles Krauthammer, syndicated columnist, commentator “while denying it for such matters” – Those that wish to make the … Read more
“There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.” – Daniel Webster “but they mean to be masters” – They be called “Progressives”
On commenting upon De Tocqueville’s The Old Regime and the French Revolution (emphasis mine) By the time their ancient love of freedom reawakened in the hearts of the French, they had already been inoculated with a set of ideas as regards the way the country should be governed that were not merely hard to reconcile … Read more
“After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn’t do it.” – William S. Burroughs, author Isn’t that always the way – punish the innocent? (H/T: Instapundit)
Liberty is the essential basis, the sine qua non, of morality. Morality can exist only in a free society; it can exist to the extent that freedom exists. Only to the extent that men have the power of choice can they be said to choose the good. – Henry Hazlitt (H/T: Cafe Hayek)
“…goodness or justice in our country is not merely the transfer of resources to the poor and vulnerable. We have to take measures to teach the poor and vulnerable to become a little more independent and to prize independence, and not just live for a government check. That means self-government within each self, and where … Read more
From his “Road to Serfdom”: Everything which might cause doubt about the wisdom of the government or create discontent will be kept from the people. The basis of unfavorable comparisons with elsewhere, the knowledge of possible alternatives to the course actually taken, information which might suggest failure on the part of the government to live … Read more
“An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.” “I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.” -Robert Heinlein, one of the greatest science fiction writers during the Golden Age of Science Fiction Most … Read more
