Great Throughts Treasury

"Everyone will experience the consequences of his own acts. If his acts are right, he will get good consequences; if they are not, he will suffer for it."

"Security - It is simply the recognition that changes will take place and the knowledge that you are willing to deal with whatever happens."

"You don't have to buy from anyone. You don't have to work at any particular job. You don't have to participate in any given relationship. You can choose."

"You are where you are today because you have chosen to be there."

"When you know that you're capable of dealing with whatever comes, you have the only security the world has to offer."

"A great burden was lifted from my shoulders the day I realized that no one owes me anything."

"The important thing is to concentrate upon what you can do - by yourself, upon your own initiative. "

"The government's War on Poverty has transformed poverty from a short-term misfortune into a career choice. "

"Everything you want in life has a price connected to it. There's a price to pay if you want to make things better, a price to pay just for leaving things as they are, a price for everything. "

"You can't give the government the power to do good without also giving it the power to do bad - in fact, to do anything it wants. "

"A government that isn’t trying to dominate the world, one that focuses on national defense rather than offense, should be able to fulfill its constitutional duties to defend the country and provide a federal judiciary for around $100 billion a year. While that may seem small next to today’s $1.8 trillion budget, it’s actually no less than what our government thrived on for most of America’s history. The biggest obstacle to such a budget comes from the promises the politicians have made. They have run up outright debts of $5.6 trillion, which costs over $200 billion a year in interest expense. In addition, the government has made promises to veterans and government employees. And the federal government has underwritten insurance against low farm outputs, natural disasters, bank failures, and much else."

"A fair trial is one in which the rules of evidence are honored, the accused has competent counsel, and the judge enforces the proper courtroom procedures - a trial in which every assumption can be challenged."

"A Libertarian society of unfettered individualism spreads its benefits to virtually everyone - not just those who have the resources to seize political power."

"A little government involvement is just as dangerous as a lot - because the first leads inevitably to the second."

"A welfare state is frightened of every poor person who tries to get in and every rich person who tries to get out."

"After the 1991 war against Iraq ended, many people continued to feel the US had been right to become involved. Some of them said, in effect, “Going to war was the right thing to do, but it didn’t settle anything because the US didn’t go all the way and remove Saddam Hussein from power.” So, despite killing thousands of people and spending billions of dollars, the war failed to settle matters. Why? because the government mishandled the project. But when has the government handled anything correctly? Was is just one more government program."

"A secure individual... knows that the responsibility for anything concerning his life remains with himself-and he accepts that responsibility."

"A possibility is to eliminate the income tax entirely, and put a 5% retail sales tax in its place. To prevent it from becoming a political football, there should be no exemptions-not for food, medicine, or anything else. Most likely, the repeal of the personal and corporate income taxes would reduce prices enough that, even with a 5% sales tax, most things would cost less than they do today. But even if prices didn’t fall, the 5% tax would be much less oppressive than the current income tax. The estate, gift, Social Security, and capital gains taxes would also be abolished. You would never again have to file a tax return, never have to fear the IRS, never have the government going through your records. The federal government should reimburse every retailer for being a tax collector-by taking only 95% of whatever the retailer collects. The rest should be a fee to the retailer. The tax would produce about $250 billion-which can amortize the national debt and get rid of it."

"After the Columbine High School massacre, the House of Representatives passed the “Juvenile Crime Bill”-supposedly to reduce teenage violence. Conservatives supported the bill because they didn’t notice its gun-control provisions, and probably because they didn’t want to appear insensitive in the midst of a supposed crisis. Liberals supported the bill because they didn’t notice that it gave the government more power to use warrantless wiretaps, allowed police to intercept messages going to your pager, promoted drug-testing of all school children, and gave increased immunity to police who might commit violent crimes against you. As usual, the politicians had practically no idea what they were voting on. Not only is federal law enforcement dangerous, it is very expensive. As with any other kind of bill, the politicians see anti-crime bills as opportunities to enact unrelated programs for their political allies."

"All government activities require coercion--violence or the threat of it. You can always locate the coercion if you look for it. First, the activity probably costs money--which was taken by force from people, whether or not they wanted the program. Almost no one volunteers to pay taxes. Second, people are coerced to participate in the program [by regulations, inspections, and required forms]. If you fail to comply, you may be forced to pay a fine or may even be sent to prison. This can happen even if you are a peaceful, productive citizen--someone who has committed no violence against anyone, has stolen from no one, and hasn’t defrauded anyone. After all the lesser penalties have been exhausted--the demands, the fines, the jail sentence-- if you continue to resist, the government will use a gun. The gun is always there. The gun is the essence of a law. When someone asks for a government program, he is saying in effect, “Tell the police to use their guns to get me what I want.”"

"All politicians like to pose as supporters of your family. But their “support” really means making your decisions for you: Democrats invoke “the children” on behalf of every new government boondoggle and regulation-whether to censor the Internet or put a V-chip in your television set. Republicans claim they will restore family values by stamping out drug use or posting the Ten Commandments in schools. Somehow they think you can’t instill family values in your children unless the politicians apply force. None of the politicians believes you’re capable of deciding for yourself what’s best for your family. If they really trusted you, they’d repeal the income tax-so you’d have the wherewithal to make your own family decisions, so you could afford to send your children to schools that teach what you want your children to learn, and so you could afford to have one parent at home to supervise your children according to your values."

"America rules the world - by force."

"Apple Computer saw a chance to profit by offering potential buyers an easier way than MS-DOS, with the Macintosh computer in 1984. Not to be outdone, Microsoft developed a competing system, called Windows, with many of the same benefits as the Macintosh, plus a few more. IBM offered another pictorial system, called OS/2, that had still more benefits. It was competition among profit-seeking companies, not regulation, that made computers easier to use. It was competition, not regulation, that cut computer prices by over 95% between 1981 and 1995. It was competition, not regulation, that made computers faster and more powerful. It was competition, not regulation, that made them more reliable. Is the computer market exceptional? Yes, it is. It is one of the least regulated markets in America. If other industries don’t progress at such a fast clip, it’s not because they’re older and more settled. It’s because they’re more heavily regulated."

"America’s foreign policy should rest on four principles: Non-interference: Our government should express good will and a desire for peace toward all-threatening no foreign country, arming or aiding no foreign governments, and giving terrorists no motivation to influence our government. No foreign aid or military assistance: Little of the money reaches the average citizen in the target country. Most of it enriches the rulers-and it helps them stay in power and continue the policies that keep their countries poor. Security against attack: America should have a protection against missile attacks, since that is the means by which an invader would conquer America. Target the aggressors, not the innocent: Suppose that, even with a missile defense, America truly were threatened by a foreign ruler. A Libertarian President would target the ruler himself. He wouldn’t order bombers to kill the ruler’s innocent subjects."

"Are low wages and poor working conditions in foreign countries a reason to restrict imports? How can Americans compete with countries whose workers make only $1 a day? In fact, American workers compete quite well with low-wage countries because Americans are far more productive. Our two largest trade deficits are with China and Japan. Chinese wages are much lower than American wages, while Japanese wages are higher than American wages. So which way does it work? Actually, it doesn’t work either way. Extremely low wages reflect primitive production methods. American workers earn so much more than workers in, say, Malaysia because they are more skilled and have better machines and tools to work with. With these tools, each American worker produces far more each day than his Malaysian counterpart."

"Are poor working conditions a reason to restrict imports? Those who want to exclude foreign products call foreign factories sweat shops. American children stopped working in sweat shops at the beginning of the 20th century. The sweat shops disappeared as expanding technology made workers more productive, and as America’s poorest adults could afford to get by without sending their children to work. When people in poor countries can start accumulating capital, working conditions will improve there as well."

"As president, I will have a litmus test: Does the judicial candidate believe absolutely that the federal government has no authority beyond the specific powers enumerated in the Constitution? Judges who pass the litmus test will recognize that the federal government has no business in education, health care, law enforcement, welfare-or abortion. The judges I appoint will recognize that the Roe v. Wade decision was a judicial fraud-that five of the nine justices found it in their wishes, not in the Constitution. I expect the Supreme Court to overturn that ruling someday, so that the federal government no longer will set the rules for every state. Instead, I expect to see a checkerboard of state [laws]. Some states may choose to outlaw abortion, and others might have few, if any, restrictions. Do I believe the states should outlaw abortion? I do not, but why should my opinion matter? I’m only running for President, not Dictator."

"As for me, until science can demonstrate otherwise, I must err on the side of safety and assume that life begins at conception. Thus I believe abortion, at any stage of a pregnancy, is wrong-very wrong. I also believe that turning to government to settle moral arguments is wrong-very wrong. And I believe that letting the federal government intrude where it has no constitutional authority is even worse. Since the federal government has no constitutional authority to deal with abortion, I must oppose any federal activity in this area. I am certain that we abandon all hope of freedom if we abandon the Constitution’s limits on federal government. So as President I would have vetoed the “Woman’s Right to Choose” bill, the partial-birth abortion bill, and any other proposal from either side of the debate. No matter what my personal feelings about abortion, it would be my responsibility to veto such proposals because the President takes an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution."

"Can you think of a single area of government in which George Bush hasn't already made things worse than Bill Clinton did?"

"Before the 1960s, a person who needed help appealed to a local charity (such as the Salvation Army) or to the town government. The downtrodden individual had to explain how he got into trouble and how he intended to work his way out of it. He was monitored closely to assure that he was telling the truth and that he stuck to his plan to get back on his feet. And he knew that the money he received came from the pockets of his neighbors. Federal welfare requires nothing more than filling out a form."

"Do we really want government to protect family values? Politicians lash out at movies, TV and popular music. But they say they don’t want to censor anyone. They just want entertainers to be more responsible. But what does a politician mean by “responsibility”? And why must entertainers worry about it? If entertainers aren’t breaking the law, and if people want to listen or watch, who cares what the politician-critic thinks? Politicians rail against the entertainment industry because they know that millions of people deplore the social decay of the past 40 years; and politicians don’t understand what caused this and they don’t know what to do to correct it. So they rail against entertainers-hoping to impress the voters who care about these things. When their policies produce no positive change, they may “reluctantly” turn to the only weapon they have-censorship. Censorship isn’t the answer. Government doesn’t work, and so censorship doesn’t work."

"Communities don't think, don't believe, don't want, don't have needs, don't have interests and don't make decisions. Only individuals have minds that generate desires and needs - and only individuals can make choices and decisions."

"But, actually, it is only Americans who say that our freedoms and prosperity are the reason foreigners hate us. If you ask the foreigners, they make it clear that it's America's bullying foreign policy they detest."

"Contrary to all the blather we here about the unique goodness of the American people or our religious heritage or anything else, the one thing that set this country apart from all others was the Bill of Rights."

"Each person is living for himself; his own happiness is all he can ever personally feel."

"Each government program carries within it the seeds of future programs that will be “needed” to clean up the mess the first program creates. No matter how much mischief it causes, government always shows up in a cavalry uniform--riding in to rescue us from the problems it created. Government runs a deposit insurance program that begs savings and loans to speculate freely--and then spends billions of our dollars to clean up the mess. Government regulates drug companies into near paralysis--and then spends billions of our dollars to subsidize drug research. Government cripples American companies with punitive taxes and mountains of regulation--and then spends billions of our dollars trying to find foreign markets for those crippled companies. By preventing people and companies from taking care of themselves, government feeds its own growth."

"Every government program, every government activity depends on the ability to tax, fine, or imprison. People don’t obey laws and regulations voluntarily, or else such things would be suggestions, not laws and regulations. Government’s tools are employed by coercion, force, compulsion, violence, and the threat of it. You may find this description a bit harsh. But that’s probably because you haven’t seen what happens if you refuse to obey a government edict. Only then would you see the iron fist. Coercion isn’t the last resort for government; it is the beginning and end of government activity. Force is the only reason anyone asks government to do something-to achieve what didn’t seem possible using persuasion. An individual is free to give to the poor, donate money to foreign governments, etc. It isn’t his choice he cares about when he asks government to do those things. It’s the desire to force someone else to share the cost or alter his behavior."

"Everything we know about human nature and about government tells us that individuals using their own money will achieve far more good for themselves and far more for others than politicians spending money they didn't have to work to earn."

"Each reduction in government has to be complete. Reducing an agency to a small fraction of its current size leaves intact the mechanism by which it can grow back again. Like a weed it has to be pulled out by the roots--not cut back. In each case, there are only two realistic choices: Get rid of the program and get rid of it quickly. Or resign ourselves to living with it forever. There is no middle ground."

"For most of our history, Americans enjoyed both liberty and security from foreign threats."

"Forcing people to be generous isn't humanitarian, effective, compassionate or moral. Only acts that are truly voluntary for all concerned can be truly compassionate."

"For those looking for security, be forewarned that there's nothing more insecure than a political promise."

"Federal grazing lands should be privately owned, so its owners can negotiate with livestock owners for grazing rights-instead of conducting political battles over whether the government should charge ranchers more or less. National parks should be sold to non-profit trusts and private companies who can continue to operate them for the public, but in ways that keep them clean and valuable, an incentive government employees don’t have."

"Four worries drive most of the opposition to immigration: JOBS: A new immigrant brings with him a need for products and services-which his job gives him the money to buy. So the immigrant has no net effect on the competition for jobs or the level of wages. Immigrants don’t take jobs away from Americans. They increase the demand for labor and they help meet that demand. WELFARE: The answer is to stop providing taxpayer-supported welfare to anyone-immigrant or citizen. CULTURE: The answer to the culture problem isn’t to keep immigrants out, but to restore the America of free individuals, each responsible and self-governing. Immigrants will embrace our culture more quickly when government stops trying to dissolve it. NOT ENOUGH ROOM: The US is still a country of wide open spaces. America could triple its population without our existing cities growing any faster than they do now."

"From the cranberry scare of the 1950s to the Alar-in-apples hysteria of the 1980s, from the “New Ice Age” of the 1960s to the “global warming” of the 1990s, environmental alarms almost always turn out to be false. Few non-political scientists fear ozone loss or acid rain. These are just issues that some people hope to use to reorder the lives of the rest of us. A great deal of what you hear about the future of Planet Earth isn’t science, it’s politics. Notice that with every alarm-about air pollution, endangered species, or anything else-the preferred solution is always the same: more government. The supposed struggle to save the planet is really a struggle for power-power over your life. So politicians and environmental extremists never wait for their claims to be proven before demanding to turn your life upside down. If these weren’t at bottom political issues, occasionally the reformers would suggest solutions that don’t call for increased political power over your life."

"Freedom and responsibility aren't interconnected things. They are the same thing."

"Government can help the health-care system only by getting out of it. It has no more ability to make us well than it does to make us rich. Here’s a laundry list of things to be washed out: Abolish the FDA. Let people decide for themselves, with the help of their doctors and private testing agencies they choose for themselves, which medicines are safe enough for them. Save Medicare by turning it over to private companies. Let seniors pick their own polices. Let them earn as much money as they want without losing benefits. Abolish Medicaid. Let each state’s citizens decide for themselves whether they want a government program to provide health care to the needy. Solve the portability problem by making all medical expenses totally deductible from taxable income. Get state governments to stop imposing conditions on health insurance. Don’t require individuals to pay for benefits they don’t want. Don’t force insurance companies to take customers they don’t want."

"Given the results of the government's War on Poverty and the War on Drugs, we can assume that a War on Abortion will lead within five years to men having abortions."

"Government is force, pure and simple. There's no way to sugar-coat that. And because government is force, it will attract the worst elements of society - people who want to use government to avoid having to earn their living and to avoid having to persuade others to accept their ideas voluntarily."

"Government is good at one thing: It knows how to break your legs, hand you a crutch, and say, "See, if it weren't for the government, you wouldn't be able to walk.""