Any alleged right of one man which necessitates the violation of the rights of another is not and cannot be a right. —Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness (1964)
Tag: Freedom
The libertarian approach is a very symmetrical one. The non-aggression principle does not rule out force, but only the initiation of force. In other words, you are permitted to use force only in response to some else’s use of force. If they do not use force you may not use force yourself. There is a symmetry here. — Stephan Kinsella, Lawyer, Author, Anarcho-Capitalist
It takes a bold person to be for personal liberty because you have to be able to cope with people saying things and engaging in voluntary acts that you deem offensive. —Walter Williams
If you are up for life, if you defend life, you cannot admire murderers. If you are up for defending private property, you cannot admire thieves. If you are up for liberty you cannot admire dictators. —Gloria Alvarez
The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think for himself. —Thomas DiLorenzo, The Problem with Socialism
The radical-revolutionary position is a lonely one. It is feared and hated, by both Right and Left — although both Right and Left must borrow from it to survive. The radical-revolutionary position is libertarianism, and its socioeconomic form is laissez-faire capitalism. —Karl Hess
As governments fail around the world, as more millions become aware that government never has and never can humanely and effectively manage men’s affairs, government’s own inadequacy will emerge, at last, as the basis for a truly radical and revolutionary movement. —Karl Hess
Both Left and Right are reactionary and authoritarian. That is to say, both are political. They seek only to revise current methods of acquiring and wielding political power. Radical and revolutionary movements seek not to revise but to revoke. The target of revocation should be obvious. The target is politics itself. —Karl Hess (The Death of Politics)
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
The practical problem is we have, historically, been so beaten down by the state, from kings and emperors, presidents and bureaucrats, that we now accept the lash of compulsion, so long as we can preserve the illusion that the whip was constructed with our consultation. Our debate is cordoned off into a small rhetorical space, where we discuss who is allowed to wield the whip this year or next year. We line up to vote for someone who will whip us less, and our adversaries more, but we never question the whip itself. —Robert Weir (WhyNotLibertarianism.com)
The practical problem is we have, historically, been so beaten down by the state, from kings and emperors, presidents and bureaucrats, that we now accept the lash of compulsion, so long as we can preserve the illusion that the whip was constructed with our consultation. Our debate is cordoned off into a small rhetorical space, where we discuss who is allowed to wield the whip this year or next year. We line up to vote for someone who will whip us less, and our adversaries more, but we never question the whip itself. —Robert Weir (WhyNotLibertarianism.com)