The Coming Tea Party Civil War

But I doubt that the "libertarian wing" is anywhere near as large as the whatever-else wing.

Libertarian Quotes

Welcome to Blogger, Floyd Noel.

Libertarian Quotes

I love libertarian quotes. I got started when I bought the e-book (PDF) 2000+ Libertarian Quotes by Harry Browne and his widow.

Often T.C. Mits (the celebrated Man in the Street) harbors a negative connotation for libertarianism, but any reasonable collection of libertarian quotes will change that to a positive connotation, since the names crediting the authors include such everyman's heroes as Mark Twain, Henry Mencken, Abraham Lincoln, Ike, Jesus, Clint Eastwood, Drew Carey, Thoreau, Ronald Reagan, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and so many more.

I have my own "2000+ Libertarian Quotes" posted at my favorite political discussion forum, Political Asylum. Many come from Harry Browne's book, and the rest come from all over the domain of humanity. Please visit and add some of your own.

Does the Invisible Hand Need a Helping Hand?

Ronald Bailey at Reason reports on some interesting ideas about the complexity, and individual freedom, in cost-benefit analysis. The idea that every opportunity appears differently to each observer accounts for the unintended consequences of treating us as collectives.

Does the Invisible Hand Need a Helping Hand?

The Nanny State digs in

Last night I went through a process that leaves me bewildered.

Just before Thanksgiving I came down with some malady that is not unlike what we used to call the common cold (the difference being that nobody knows what to call it now.) Among the sort of shrugging recommendations that my family doc made was to get some pseudofed, which he advised did not require an rx, but did require a certain amount of groveling and jumping through hoops of fire. The pseudo whatsis is now kept behind the counter, like trading cards, girlie magazines, cigarettes, and small flagons of distilled spirit. I had to show my drivers license and sign some sort of life altering document submitting myself to the domination of walmart and the KY legislature.

WTF? Surely there has to be a way of separating criminals (drug chefs) from patients that rises above requiring patients to register as potential criminals. How many numb skulled bureaucratic schemes must we endure on a day-to-day basis? Does anybody see this as an effective program, as a shot ringing out in the war on drugs? Please tell me how.

Another reason why big government is not necessary.

"It was in 1949 that Rothbard first concluded that the free market could provide all services, including police, courts, and defense services better than could the State." The Myth of Lighthouses

Temporary Link to TCP thread as of this posting

The Enhanced Political Quiz...in 2D

Here's how I scored on this quiz:



See my assessment write-up.

I disagree somewhat with the "radical" adjective, but will not lose much sleep over it. Even though I happen to be near the north woods today, I am not looking for a compound.

I felt that most of the positions were overstated at the libertarian end, leaving too much uncovered space to the next choice. For example, one question echoed reality; the quizzers have no solution for social security either.

The drug question leaves the same distrust that most critics invoke for libertarians by distorting the position. I do not favor legalization of drugs; I favor instead the removal of laws that we do not intend to enforce, and further I favor a drastic reduction of the fda along with the elimination of a federal role in pharmaceutical protectionism and medical research (excepting perhaps epidemiology).

Also there is a wide gap between the right to bear arms and the sanctioning of military arms. I voted for the complete removal of gun control, but I believe that there will be no legal control of arms the day our government turns against us. And if a foreign sovereign attacks, I cannot envision the US government enforcing any gun laws.

To launch quiz2d, press here.

This is a day at our house that . . .

. . . we call Form 4868 day.

Actually it takes more than grumbling. We need a taxpayers' revolution in this country. We need to scream bloody murder every april 15, and everytime the house passes a tax bill, and everytime the senate concurs, and everytime the prez signs one of the damn things into law, and everytime the courts uphold one.

Abuse a government employee today.

Do you know of even 1 elected official who can justify even 50% of our tax burden? How many taxes can you justify to your mother (that she pays either directly or indirectly)?

• "The Eiffel Tower is the Empire State Building after taxes."–(anonymous, source unknown)
• "People often say death and taxes are the same, but this is wrong. Death is a taxable event, but taxes never die."–(anonymous, source unknown)
• "Governments last as long as the undertaxed can defend themselves from the overtaxed."–Bernard Berenson
• "The fundamental class division in any society is not between rich and poor, or between farmers and city dwellers, but between tax payers and tax consumers."–David Boaz
• "To tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is not given to men."–Edmund Burke
• "We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle."–Winston Churchill
• "For every benefit you receive a tax is levied."–Ralph Waldo Emerson
• "I'm proud to pay taxes in the United States. The only thing is, I could be just as proud for half the money."–Arthur Godfrey
• "The power to tax involves the power to destroy."–John Marshall
• "The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much."–Ronald Reagan
• "We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough. We have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much."–Ronald Reagan
• "History shows that when the taxes of a nation approach about 20% of the people's income, there begins to be a lack of respect for government... When it reaches 25%, there comes an increase in lawlessness."–Ronald Reagan
• "The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets."–Will Rogers
• "The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin."–Mark Twain
• "The people are hungry: It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes."–Lao Tzu
• "What we should have fought for was representation without taxation."-Sam Levenson
  
  Wikiquote.org on "taxation"

Unintended Consequences -- part 1

Fellow blogger, Dan Kennedy, links us into the explosion of consequences from the New Bedford Raid.

This is a fascinating case showing how the theory of unitended consequences applies to big government.

Some things to consider:

1. Is New Bedford MA where al-qaeda plans to strike next?
2. What were the opportunity costs of this raid, apparently 2+ months in the planning?
3. Is it significant that the raid took place in a blue state?
4. Are we just now spending millions on body armor vests?
5. If there are only 100+ people working there now, what happened to all the New Bedfordians who wanted these jobs?
6. How many of the rounded-up were actually illegals?
7. How many were held without bail or due process?
   
8. How much did this raid cost the taxpayers?
9. How much did this raid cost the economy of New Bedford?

Let's take a look, shall we?

addenda:

• Jeff Flake's libertarian view on immigration

Ron Paul 2008

FYI -- Ron Paul for Prez 2008 -- link exchange.

Why I Am Supporting Ron Paul by Jacob Hornberger

2008 Prexidential Exploratory Committee

A Foreign Policy of Freedom by Ron Paul

Can Ron Paul win in 2008? from SmallGovTimes.com

In the Daily Iowan

From George Will, A Cheerful Anachronism

The Sanjaya Principle

Ron Paul on Real Time (use your browser's "find" to search for 'Paul')

Ron Paul and the Establishment

Eco Author has some interesting comments after the May 3 gop debate

MSNBC online Poll analysis after the May 3 gop debate

Candidate Ron Paul: Quixotic, or the real deal?

Post a comment, leave a URL! Hey!! If you don't, then all these links will be filtered through my prism!