Do You Agree or Disagree
1. government should not regulate - peaceful, honest, and voluntary activity
2. government should not provide money, loans, or welfare to anyone, domestic or foreign
3. government should be limited to protecting and securing our God-given rights
4. government should not tax income
5. government should end its role as global police and global welfare provider
6. government should not regulate education
7. government should not tax people for the purpose of giving it away
Time To Think
If it is morally wrong for a thief to steal money to pay for his mothers health care, his sisters
education, and his brothers rent, then is it not just as morally wrong for a group of politicians to tax people for the purpose
of giving the money away?
We don't have a budget crises. Our politicians have a spending crises.
Stop asking the government for "free" education and "free" medical care. There is no such thing.
Your property tax bill and your income tax bill prove that teachers and doctors do not work for free.
Majority rule or democracy is 51 people telling the other 49 people how to live.
In truth, the United States is a one-party country with two branches, republicans and democrats.
Both branches have the same goal, to increase their scope and power of government. Republicans do this at 50 mph and democrats
at 70 mph.
Politicians can't fool all the people all the time, but politicians can fool enough of them
to rule a large country like the USA.
The form of government entrusted to us by our Founders was a Republic, not a Democracy. Democracy
= majority rule that is destructive of liberty because there is no law to prevent the majority from trampling on individual
rights. Republic = a government of law under a constitution which holds the government in check and prevents the majority
from violating the rights of individuals. ( to the Republic for which it stands...Pledge of Allegiance )
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting to decide whats for lunch.
Democratic, in the sense of widespread participation in government, yes; in the political sense of
majority rule, clearly no.
For the Lord is our judge (judicial dept.), the Lord is our lawgiver (legislative dept.), the Lord
is our king (executive dept.)...Isaiah 33:22
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover
they can vote themselves (money-favors) from the public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the cadidate
promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal
policy-taxing and spending-always followed by a dictatorship.
Civil law is given, not to create rights, but to protect already pre-existing God-given rights which
no human legislature may abridge or destroy, unless the owner himself shall commit some act that amounts to a forfeiture.
Democrats want government to be your Mommy. Republicans want government to be your Daddy.
The rest of us, want government to treat us like Adults.
I do love my country; it's the politicians I can't stand.
Articles To Challenge Your Thinking
Great Links
Justice-Liberty-Property
When government is limited to its legitimate functions, property will be protected, and liberty and
justice will prevail.
The law is perverted and transformed from its legitimate function of protecting persons and property
to the transfer of income and wealth through market regulations, heavy taxes, and outright takings.
Artificial rights ( welfare rights ) replace Natural rights ( property rights ) and justice is turned
on its head.
When the government is responsible for one's health, housing, education, and retirement, little is
left for private initiative. Everyone will have an incentive to live off the state, which means to prey on his neighbors.
The law becomes a great school for demoralization.
Voluntary self-sacrifice to help others is considered a virtue, but forced self-sacrifice is a vice
and violates the rules of justice.
The law's function is to protect, not to take one's property ( the fruits of ones labor ) in order
to benefit others.
Laws that promote subsidies, foreign aid, and welfare schemes all violate the fundamental principle
of justice and common law / natural law.
Laws which violate common law ( do all you have agreed to do, and do not encroach upon
other people or their property ) must be abolished.
Free Markets and Freedom of Association
The free market establishes an arena within which diverse people ( Jews, Christians,
Atheists, etc ) voluntarily deal with each other solely for economic benefit. On leaving this free, peaceable arena, some
go to church, some to the synagogue, and some in search of a movie. In the end, all are satisfied. They walk away from each
other to pursue different interests and cultural values.
Private property and the freedom of association are essential if an economy wants to classify itself
as a free market or capitalist. What is the point of owning a business if I cannot hire whomever I wish.
Just as you and I should be free to work, or not work, for anyone we wish, so business owners should
be free to hire, or not hire, anyone they choose. Just as the government does not tell us whom we can associate with in our
personal lives, it should not tell us whom we can associate with in our economic lives.
If you come to my house and ring my doorbell and I tell you to leave, should you have the right to
take me to court? No, its my house and my property. Then why isn't my other property ( my business, my golf course, my nightclub
) that I built with my own money, like my house? Should I not have the right to choose my friends, my associations?
My house and my business ( built without government subsidies - tax money ) are my private
property built for ( my ) benefit and I should be able to decide who the public is; not some group of politicians.
Owners have the right to exclude others from the use of what belongs to them, meaning that others
must seek their consent before taking action that affects their rights. Property makes people - including lawmakers - respectful
of others...Tom Palmer
How Governments Destroy Quality, Competition and Increase Crime
Prohibition goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite
by legislation and makes crimes out of things that are not crimes. A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles
upon which our government was founded...Abraham Lincoln
The Value of Local Government
It is a firm principle that the smallest or lowest level that can possibly undertake the task is
the one that should do so. First, the community or city. If the city cannot handle it, then the county. Next the state; and
only if no smaller unit can possibly do the job should the federal government be considered.
And so far as government is concerned the smaller the unit the closer it is to the people, and the
easier it is to guide it, to keep it solvent and to keep our freedom...F. Bastiat
Let the federal government be entrusted with the defense of the nation; the state and local
governments with civil rights, law, police and courts.
Artificial Rights
I cannot undertake to lay my finger upon an article of the Constitution which granted a right
to Congress of expending, on the objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents...James Madison
People are not born equal; people are born with equal rights; the right to pursue life, liberty,
and property to the best of one's ability.
In the early days of the Republic, equality meant equality before God; liberty meant the liberty
to shape one's own life. A different meaning of equality has emerged in the United States - equality of outcome - ( everyone
should be equal, have the same level of income ). Equality of outcome is in clear conflict with liberty. Equality before
God and the law, yes; equality of income, clearly no.
Artificial rights ( the right to medical care, housing, unemployment, etc ) must be secured on the
backs of other people; Free men and women ought never to be forced to produce goods and services for other people. Theres
no way to have artificial rights without enslaving a great many of us to serve other people. If someone has a welfare right,
then others must produce the goods to which he is entitled - which means forced labor.
Equality of opportunity is perhaps best expressed by - a career open to the talents. Not birth,
nationality, color, sex, etc - should determine the opportunities that are open to a person - only his abilities...Milton
and Rose Friedman
Suppose Jones claims a right to a job. If that claim means that Jones will be employed anytime
he wishes to be ( on whatever terms he wishes ) there must be some other person, perhaps Smith, who has a duty to provide
the job. Jones's claimed right creates a ( duty ) for Smith to undertake some action that he may not want to undertake...Charles
Baird
It is worth noting that collectivism in the 20th century rejected this notion of inalienable
rights - rights that cannot be alienated, taken away, from the individual; and replaced with a collectivism philosophy
that teaches - individuals have a duty to live for the state.
Human beings can satisfy their wants either by "ceaseless labor" or by "seizing the product of
others". Governments proper job is to stop this fatal tendency to plunder instead of work...F. Bastiat
If you have been voting for politicians who promise to give you goodies at someone else's expense,
then you have no right to complain when they take your money and give it to someone else, including themselves...Thomas Sowell
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting
the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them...Thomas Jefferson
Everyone wants to live at the expense of the State. They forget that the State lives at the expense
of everyone...Frederic Bastiat
There are many handouts; but let's call them what they really are; a form of ( legalized theft
). A politician tells his constituency, - Vote for me and I will use my office to take another Americans money and give it
to you.
Rights ... they refer to a zone of sovereignty within which individuals are entitled to make
choices without interference by others.
Governments are justified to the extent that they protect rights; Governments are unjustified
when they fail to persistently protect rights; Or when government itself begins to violate individual rights.
Consensual Crimes
A consensual crime is any activity - currently illegal - in which adults choose to participate that
does not violate common law.
Police need to use their limited time and resources arresting those who rape, murder, defraud, steal,
etc., where ( peaceful, honest, and voluntary ) activity ends, and ( violence, dishonesty, and force )
begins.
Real criminals walk free every day to steal, rape, murder, etc , because the police and courts
are swamped with people who are guilty of hurting no one but ( maybe ) themselves.
Peaceful, Honest and Voluntary activity between consenting adults that does not violate Common Law
( do all you have ageed to do; do not encroach upon other people or their property ) should not be made a ( crime ) by
politicians.
It is not the responsibilty of the government or the legal system to protect a citizen from (
himself )...Justice Casey Percell
Every individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the fruits of his
labors, so far as it in no way interferes with any other men's rights...Abraham Lincoln
Do not suppose that abuses are eliminated by making ( crimes ) out of the ( object ) abused.
Shall we prohibit - alcohol, guns, tobacco, and gambling?
Yes, if we harm ourselves it may ( emotionally ) harm others. Thats, unfortunate, but not grounds
for putting us in jail. If people physically harm someone else's person or property, they go to jail. If not, they don't.
Every other behavior we would like them to follow ( for their own good or our own comfort ) must be achieved through education
or persuasion, not force of law...Peter McWilliams
A crime is commited when a person violates Common Law; when someone has - broken an agreement or
encroached - upon another person or their property. As long as a person does not violate common law, that person has the right
to live his life as he chooses.
Is a parents possible ( bad example ) worse for the children than throwing the parents in jail,
confiscating their money and property, and making their children wards of the state? ... Peter McWilliams
Liberty means freedom to choose ( foolishly ) as well as ( wisely ) ; freedom to enjoy the rewards
of good judgment, and freedom to suffer the consequences of bad judgment.
Where does our right to - life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - end? As the old saying
goes, - Your freedom to swing your fist ends where my nose begins. And your freedom to swing your bat ends where my window
( property ) begins.
Heroin and Morphine are dangerous and habit forming drugs. But once the principle is admitted
that it is the duty of ( politicians ) to protect ( adults ) against their own foolishness, no serious objections
can be advanced against further encroachments ( smoking, alcohol, gambling, etc ).
A caged bird may be safe, but the bird is not free...Walter Williams
Old Age Security Without the Government
Interesting article explains the moral and economic benefits of freedom; when set free from the
governments social security schemes. Read article @ www.mises.org/story/2515
A Moral Case for Freedom
It is an increasing practice of the collectivistic (socialism) concept, that the individual exists
for the group, by the groups permission, and for the groups sake.
This concept denies the Creator and substitutes the State (politicians) as the source of man's
rights. Ignored is the idea that government exists for the purpose of securing the God-given rights of man.
I have never witnessed a single individual who was moved away from his collectivistic (socialism)
notions by reason of a fear of what the future held for him materialistically.
However, I have noted countless individuals who have made the ideological switch from collectivism
to freedom. In every case, where diagnosis has been possible, the individual made the switch because he had grasped, for the
first time in his life, the right and wrong of it all. The experience was a moral reorientation! ... Leonard
E. Read
If it's wrong for a person to violate common law - do all you have agreed to do ; do
not encroach upon other people; do not encroach upon other peoples property - then its just as morally wrong for a group of
people (politicians) to violate common law. To take one persons property (money) and give it away to another person; To create
laws that violate common law; To benefit one person at the expense of another person; This is exactly what we are experincing
today with the democrats and republicans - Legalized Theft - violation of common law.
The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can
be entrusted to man. If you have the right to give to one, you have the right to give to all. You can easily see what a wide
door this would open for - fraud, corruption, favoritism - on the one hand, and for - robbing
- people on the other. No, congress has no right to give charity ... Colonel David Crockett
Abolish The Income Tax
Constitutional Limitations on Government
The Law Perverted - Legalized Theft and Plunder
The Choice Before Us...
1. the few plunder the many
2. everybody plunders everybody
3. nobody plunders anybody
Most government activities are - legalized plunder or theft ... Walter Williams
Democrats and Republicans support and create laws that involve - Plunder ! Both agree on taking one
Americans money to give to another person who has not earned it , in the forms of - welfare schemes, failing businesses, etc.
Some may call this, a result of the democratic process and it's legal. Legality alone is no guide
for a ( moral ) people. Slavery was legal; Abortion is legal; but their legal status does not make them moral.
Can a moral case be made for taking the rightful property of one American and giving it to another
to whom it does not belong? Socialism uses evil means ( coercion ) to achieve what are seen as good ends ( helping people
). We might also note that an act that is inherently evil does not become moral simply because their's a majority consensus.
Charity is a noble instinct; theft legal or illegal is despicable. Reaching into one's own pocket
to assist his fellow man is noble and worthy of praise. Reaching into another person's pocket to assist one's fellow man is
worthy of condemnation ... Walter Willaims
What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen
There is only one difference between a bad economist and a good one: the bad economist confines
himself to the ( visible ) effect; the good economist takes into account both the effect that can be seen and those effects
that must be ( foreseen ) ... Frederic Bastiat
The minimum wage has become a deceptive public relations tool for politicians who know of its
ill effects but nonetheless use it for political gain. The minimum wage actually produces dreadful effects - unemployment,
coercion, loss of liberty, etc ... Jim Cox
Government affects the economy in three major ways ...
1. by taxation and spending
2. by regulation
3. by control of money and banking
If taxation bleeds the economy and government spending distorts it, governmental regulation amounts
to slow strangulation.
Politicians often support and create laws that have dreadful effects on our - Life, Liberty,
and Property.
Foundation of Liberty - Rule of Law
No more can mankind be conducted to happiness; or civil societies united, and enjoy peace and
prosperity, without observing the moral principles and connections, which the Almighty Creator has established for the government
of the moral world.
Everyone, or nearly so, claims to favor liberty. Yet everyone favors constraining people's conduct.
One ought not be free to murder, rape, or rob another, for example ... Randy Barnett
John Locke wrote, "though this is a State of Liberty yet it is not a State of License." By liberty
is meant those freedoms which people ought to have. License refers to those freedoms which people ought not to have and thus
those freedoms which are properly constrained ... Randy Barnett
Common Law provides the foundation that enables people to pursue happiness, peace, and prosperity.
Principles of Common Law ...
1. do all you have agreed to do
2. do not encroach on other people
3. do not encroach on other peoples property
As long as a person obeys common law; engages in activity that is peaceful, voluntary, and
honest; that person should be left alone.
Political Laws that encroach - intrude, regulate, prohibit, interfere
- with activity between adults that is - peaceful, honest, voluntary - must be abolished.
The majority is as human as any dictator. Like the dictator, they do not vote for what is right,
they vote for what they want. Their wants change constantly, so political law has no stability
... Richard Maybury
Two kinds of Law - (1) Political Law (2) Common Law
Political Law destroys liberty ; Common Law protects liberty.
Common Law ... benefits everyone.
Political Law ... created by politicians to benefit politicians and their special
interest groups.
Think About This
Government intervention rarely achieves its goals, while inflicting a host of damaging side effects
and unintended consequences; Example - drug prohibition increases crime and enriches criminals.
Free people will find better solutions to Economic and Social problems than a government; Unfortunately,
many people continue to call for government regulation as the first method to address any problem that arises.
It is impossible for a group of politicians to decide what is best for every member of the United
States; If it were possible, how many politicians would choose "the best" over special interest ( lobbyist
money )?
Please read ... Deception of Government Intervention ... @
