Because we all see the world differently, we don’t know what’s best for everyone. That is precisely why we are libertarians. We start from a position of humility, not hubris. —Jeff Deist
Tag: Austrian economists
Every man knows there are evils in the world which need setting right… to most men one in particular stands out vividly… it stands out with such startling vividness that they lose sight of other evils. To the Socialist this evil is the capitalistic system; to the feminist, it is the subjection of women; to the clergyman, it is the decline of religion; to the staunch Republican it is the Democratic Party, and so on, ad infinitum. I, too, have a pet little evil, to which I am apt to attribute all the others. This evil is the neglect of thinking. And when I say thinking I mean real thinking, independent thinking, hard thinking. —Henry Hazlitt
The greatest gains against poverty in the United States occurred when government was least involved. —Tom Woods
We don’t beg for scraps from the imperial table. We don’t seek a seat
at that table. We want to knock the table over. —Lew Rockwell (Paul Festival, 25 Aug 2012)
The true test of one’s commitment to liberty and private property rights… comes when we permit people to be free to do those voluntary things with which we disagree. —Walter Williams
We libertarians are not the spokesmen for any ethnic or economic class;
we are the spokesmen for all classes, for all of the public;
we strive to see all of these groups united, hand-in-hand, in opposition to the plundering and privileged minority that constitutes the rulers of the State. —Murray Rothbard
Capitalism gave the world what it needed, a higher standard
of living for a steadily increasing number of people. —Ludwig von Mises
We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain. —Frederic Bastiat
Most of the tyrants, despots, and dictators are sincerely convinced that their rule is beneficial for the people. —Ludwig von Mises
The funds that a government spends for whatever purposes are levied by taxation. And taxes are paid because the taxpayers are afraid of offering resistance to the tax gatherers. They know that any disobedience or resistance is hopeless. As long as this is the state of affairs, the government is able to collect the money that it wants to spend. Government is in the last resort the employment of armed men, of policemen, gendarmes, soldiers, prison guards, and hangmen. The essential feature of government is the enforcement of its decrees by beating, killing, and imprisoning. Those who are asking for more government interference are asking ultimately for more compulsion and less freedom. —Ludwig von Mises