Great Throughts Treasury

"The American way was for commerce, personal relationships, and religion to be voluntary. No one was forced to participate in something he didn't want."

"The American heritage was one of individual liberty, personal responsibility and freedom from government. Unfortunately, that heritage has been lost. Americans no longer have the freedom to direct their own lives. Today, it is the government that is free - free to do whatever it wants. There is no subject, no issue, no matter that is not subject to legislation."

"The first step in freeing yourself from social restrictions is the realization that there is no such thing as a safe code of conduct - one that would earn everyone's approval. Your actions can always be condemned by someone - for being too bold or too apathetic, for being too conformist or too nonconformist, for being too liberal or too conservative. So it's necessary to decide whose approval is important to you."

"The free market punishes irresponsibility. Government rewards it."

"The communitarians may say you've been enjoying too much individual freedom, and that you must give up some of that for the benefit of the community. But they really mean that they want more power over your life - to force you to subsidize, obey and conform to their choices."

"The Bill of Rights isn't some legalistic fine print. It was written to make our lives freer, more prosperous, and happier. By forsaking it, America has become no better than any other country in the world."

"The Constitution isn't written in Chinese, Swahili or Sanskrit. It's in plain English."

"The Constitution specifies only three federal crimes-treason, piracy, and counterfeiting. And yet the Congress has passed federal laws against kidnapping, gun ownership, drug use, “hate crimes,” discrimination, fraud, carjacking, vandalism, pornography, and dozens of other activities that have no national significance. Federal laws interfere with local police work and violate the Constitution. They also allow government to circumvent the Bill of Rights and subject citizens to double jeopardy. If a jury acquits someone of violating a state gun-control law, for example, he can be re-tried for violating a federal gun-control law-even though the second trial is for the same act. The federal government has no special wisdom, no special authority, and no special ability to fight crime. The Founding Fathers thought that would be a terrible idea. The past 35 years have confirmed their wisdom. The federal government’s involvement in local law-enforcement has helped the guilty and hurt the innocent."

"The Drug Warriors will tell you that harsh sentences strike fear in the hearts of America’s drug kingpins. But cases in which a big-time drug dealer receives a long prison sentence are very rare. One-time offenders and innocent bystanders get sentences ranging from a few years to life without chance of parole. This is not just a technical problem that needs to be corrected. These injustices are inevitable in any plan to prosecute victimless crimes. Without victims to testify, the state must [make offers] to truly guilty people to provide testimony. The drug kingpins have plenty of names to give the prosecutors, and so they obtain reduced sentences. But the low-level drug runner has little to offer-so these people wind up with the worst sentences. The drug warriors may want you to believe that only drug kingpins go to prison. But in 1998 alone, 682,885 Americans were arrested for possessing marijuana. More than half of the prison population of 2 million are non-violent offenders."

"The essence of America was an abundance of something rarely found in other countries: freedom from government. America’s Founding Fathers established the first government strictly limited by a written constitution to a short list of activities. The Constitution didn’t limit what citizens could do. Its only purpose was to spell out what was permissible for the federal government to do. And anything not authorized was forbidden to the federal government. Some state governments had hesitated to ratify the Constitution--fearing that it didn’t make entirely clear how limited the federal government’s role was to be. So the Bill of Rights was added to forestall any misunderstanding. Thus began a momentous experiment to tame the monster of government. And it was very clear to the fathers of the Constitution that government is a monster. As George Washington said: “Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."

"The crime wave of the past 30 years isn’t a result of soft-on-crime attitudes. I believe there are 5 steps needed to lower the crime rate substantially and bring back the peaceful society America had 35 years ago. All 5 call for less government. Stop locking up non-violent offenders. Prison facilities should be reserved for those who murder, rape, assault, and rob. End Washington’s War on Drugs. If drugs were legal, there would be no drive-by shootings, no unjust entries or arrests, and no pushers hanging around schoolyards. End property seizures. Asset-forfeiture laws invite law-enforcement agencies to finance their activities by taking property on flimsy pretexts. Repeal gun-control laws. The laws start by banning something no reasonable person is likely to want-and then become more and more restrictive, until the ban is total. Keep the federal government out. All crime is local; it occurs in the jurisdiction of some police department or sheriff’s department."

"The crusade against victimless crimes reaches the apex of absurdity in the War on Drugs. It is the quintessential example that government doesn’t work. Government has failed completely to stop people from taking drugs. It can’t stop drugs from coming into the country. It can’t even stop drugs from getting into its own prisons. And yet the politicians keep telling us that the next freedom taken from us will be the price that finally pays off in getting drugs off the streets and away from our children. It ought to be obvious by now that this War will never be won. Government can’t stop the supply, it can’t reduce the demand, and its strong-arm tactics don’t work. We have paid for this fruitless crusade in billions of tax dollars, the corruption of police forces, the loss of civil liberties, soaring crime rates, and gang warfare. The War has served only to undermine our protections against reckless law enforcement-and to make life easier for violent criminals."

"The pattern of wars establishing nothing has continued throughout American history: The Mexican War (which took 13,283 American lives) did add to the territory of the US. Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to buy it? The Civil War (498,332 lives) didn’t bring reconciliation as promised. Instead, it produced nearly a century of regional animosity. World War I (116,708 US lives) wasn’t “the war to end all wars” as promised. WWII (407,316 US lives) didn’t make the world safe for democracy; it made the world safe for the USSR to launch the Cold War. The Korean War (33,651 lives) left Korea as divided as before. After Vietnam (58,168 lives), the dominoes continued to fall. The Gulf War (296 US lives) produced no resolution-other than to return the Emir of Kuwait to the palace. Politicians always justify war as being necessary for the greater good. They speak movingly of giving one’s life for one’s country. But it’s always someone else’s life they’re talking about."

"The problem with politics isn't the money; it's the power."

"The police can't stop an intruder, mugger, or stalker from hurting you. They can pursue him only after he has hurt or killed you. Protecting yourself from harm is your responsibility, and you are far less likely to be hurt in a neighborhood of gun-owners than in one of disarmed citizens - even if you don't own a gun yourself."

"The government prohibits some imports and taxes others. The politicians say this saves American jobs and protects American companies from “unfair” competition. But the real reason is to reward the industries with the most political influence. The principal barriers to imports are tariffs (taxes on imported products) that make foreign goods more expensive for you to buy. The tariffs also make American products more expensive by increasing the cost of imported raw materials. And the tariffs make some foreign products so expensive they can’t compete here-leaving you no alternative to more costly American versions. In addition, when it’s in the interest of companies with the right political connections, foreign products can be banned entirely from the US because of questionable claims that they hurt the environment or their prices are unfairly low. Import barriers cost Americans about $70 billion a year-roughly about $700 for every American household."

"The seeds of today's runaway government were planted when it was decided that government should help those who can't help themselves. From that modest, compassionate beginning to today's out-of-control mega-state, there's a straight, unbroken line. Once the door was open, once it was settled that the government should help some people at the expense of others, there was no stopping it."

"The greatest guarantor of peace isn’t a strong military. It is free trade among countries. When people can buy and sell freely with another country, they have good reason to discourage their leaders from going to war with that country. This interdependence is a far more reliable guarantor of peace that foreign aid, arms sales, and treaties. When a government excludes other countries from sources of raw materials of from markets for their wares, it undermines the economic motives for maintaining peace."

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

"The proposed flat tax is big and flat, because there’s no reduction in the size of the federal government. They say you’ll be able to file your tax return on a postcard. But there’s nothing to stop the IRS from demanding proof that the number you put on the postcard is correct. A better arrangement-one that honors freedom and privacy-is a flat 10% tax on all income. No deductions, no exemptions. The 10% would be withheld from your paycheck and forwarded to the government by your employer-without your name attached. You would not have to file a tax return because you’ve already paid your tax. The same would be true of all dividends and interest you earn; the company paying you would withhold 10% and forward it to the government. The estate, gift, Social Security, and capital gains taxes would also be abolished. The government wouldn’t know how much you make, where you keep it, or what you do with it. Your financial life would be private, as it should be in a free country."

"The government should buy from a private insurance company an annuity for everyone who depends on Social Security. The annuities should provide lifetime incomes similar to what Social Security has promised. I estimate the cost to be roughly $5 trillion. Annuities should be provided only for those who truly need them. This means some kind of simple, non-intrusive means test must be applied to each retiree. Those that don’t rely on Social Security shouldn’t aggravate the problem further. The maximum monthly Social Security benefit is $1,100; there are many retired people to whom that isn’t a critical amount. People over the age of 50 who are nearing retirement and who have made plans based on receiving Social Security should also receive annuities. Those annuities would be smaller and wouldn’t begin paying out until age 65. And what about those under 50? To them we offer the greatest gift possible: You will never again have to pay the 15% Social Security tax."

"The Social Security tax has risen from a combined employer-employee rate of 2% in 1935 to today’s combined tax of 15.3%. And there’s no reason to believe the tax rate won’t continue to rise. As administered by politicians, Social Security is inherently unworkable, because the politicians always spend the money they take in. As the retired population grows, it requires higher taxes to pay the benefits the politicians have promised. Most people think Congress would never renege on its promises to Social Security recipients-no matter how bad federal finances become. But when the only alternative is to raise the Social Security tax rate to 35% or 40%-or to cut off food stamps to the poor-there may be no choice but to cut Social Security benefits. Millions of people depend on Social Security today. They worked for decades. Their plans assumed that Social Security would provide for them when they retired. I believe these people must be taken care of. But I don’t trust the government to do it."

"The success of private schools-even private schools on skimpy budgets-has inspired the idea of “school choice” or “vouchers.” I understand well the attraction of this approach. And it might be an improvement over today’s poor schooling. But government doesn’t work. And giving government control over education-in any form-is dangerous. A voucher program means requires a government bureaucracy to administer it and government “experts” to decide which schools are “qualified” to accept the vouchers. It is especially dangerous to have the federal government administer such a program or set the rules for it. The Feds are too far removed from local school issues to have any competence in education. It is far better to lower the tax burden so that parents are financially able to buy the education they want-with no rules imposed by government. Then each family could send its children to any school they want-or teach them at home."

"The problem is big government. If whoever controls government can impose his way upon you, you have to fight constantly to prevent the control from being harmful. With small, limited government, it doesn't much matter who controls it, because it can't do you much harm."

"The word libertarian has been used more and more in recent years. It describes what most people want more of: more control over their own lives-and, in order to get it, much smaller government. The political voice of the libertarian movement is the Libertarian Party-a political party that was founded in 1971, but has surged in size and influence over the past few years. Although libertarians disagree with each other on some issues, they are unanimous on the critical points: Government is far too big and must be reduced dramatically. It is wrong-both unfair and harmful-for government to stop a willing buyer and a willing seller from doing business with each other. It is wrong for government to intervene in your personal life. It is wrong to try to solve social problems by force. Most of today’s social problems were caused or worsened by government’s interference-and we can solve those problems by reducing government, not by giving it more power."

"There is so much we can do to avoid war-to assure that America’s youth never go to war again, and that our lives and homes are secure against foreign attack: End all loans and giveaways to foreign governments and international agencies. Stopping giveaways keeps our government from taking sides in foreign disputes. Get out of all alliances, treaties, and international organizations. America doesn’t need to be a joiner to have good relations with the rest of the world. End all arms sales by the government. Open our markets to goods and services from all over the world. Nothing could do more to give foreign people a vested interest in keeping the peace with us. When a foreign leader threatens the US, announce that carrying out any warlike act against us will lead to a multi-million-dollar reward for his assassination. Establish a defense that protects against missiles launched from anywhere in the world-a system built by private companies competing for a reward."

"There are no violent gangs fighting over aspirin territories. There are no violent gangs fighting over whisky territories or computer territories or anything else that's legal. There are only criminal gangs fighting over territories covering drugs, gambling, prostitution, and other victimless crimes. Making a non-violent activity a crime creates a black market, which attracts criminals and gangs, which turns what was once a relatively harmless activity affecting a small group of people into a widespread epidemic of drug use and gang warfare."

"There was no military reason to drop atomic bombs on Japan. They were used as terrorist weapons - killing innocent people to influence other people."

"Truth is a casualty in the War on Drugs. Because they’re in a losing battle, the Drug Warriors grow progressively more hysterical in trying to justify their activities. It has become impossible to discuss calmly any issue concerning drugs. Lost in the hysteria are a few simple facts: No one has ever been known to die from smoking marijuana. No scientific study has indicated that smoking marijuana leads inevitably to heavier drugs. More people use mind-altering stimulants, sedatives, tranquilizers, or analgesics than use cocaine or crack. Fewer people die from illegal drugs than die from accidental poisoning by legal drugs and medicines. Much of the misery coming from illegal drugs occurs because they are illegal. People sometimes die or become sick from poorly formulated illegal drugs or from overdoses of them, because the law prevents reputable companies from providing a safe product in standard doses."

"Until science can demonstrate otherwise, I must assume that life begins at conception. Thus I believe that abortion is wrong-very wrong. But the government that can’t win a War on Poverty or a War on Drugs isn’t going to win a War on Abortion. An unfortunate fact of life is that there always will be abortions, just as there always will be people who misuse drugs, no matter what the laws are. The only practical solution to either problem is a program of education and persuasion-undertaken by people, not government. I applaud the dedication and efforts of those who work so hard to dissuade young women from rushing into abortions, who arrange adoptions, etc. So long as we wait for government to solve this problem, the abortion clinics will operate at full speed. And, if we have any respect for the Constitution, it surely isn’t a matter in which the federal government has any role-either to facilitate or stop abortion, or to prevent state governments from stopping them."

"Until 1960 the federal government had practically nothing to do with education, crime control, or welfare (except Social Security). But by 1975, Great Society programs led to the federal government dominating all three areas. In each case the pattern was the same: The federal government provided financial subsidies to state and local governments--and, once the governments became dependent on the money from Washington, the Feds imposed conditions for continuing to receive it. Although the money for a community comes from citizens in that same community, routing it through Washington allows the Feds to set the rules. Thus they began setting standards for school curricula, welfare eligibility, and police procedures and budgets. By taking control away from communities, the federal government made schools, police, and welfare systems even more remote from the people who pay for them and rely upon them--and made them more susceptible to fraud and graft, and to meddling by social reformers."

"There are two important changes that must be made to improve education: The federal government must get completely out of education. It has made a bad situation much worse. And it has no Constitutional authority to meddle in education in any way- even if it were capable of helping. Federal taxes must be lowered dramatically so that parents have the ability to finance their children’s education directly. Once we make these reforms, it will be up to the people in each state to decide what educational system is best. Some states will revert to the kind of education provided before the federal government took over-with public schools that reflect local values and circumstances. Some states will adopt a voucher system, in order to enhance freedom of choice and lessen dependence on government. And some states will withdraw from education altogether-reducing taxes so parents can buy whatever education they want for their children."

"Voluntary association produces the free market - where each person can choose among a multitude of possibilities."

"War is justified by blurring the distinction between foreign rulers and their subjects. Our politicians cite the sins of foreign rulers, and then ask us to join in killing their downtrodden subjects. The politicians want us to forget that wars kill innocent people. They talk about teaching a foreign dictator a lesson, but the dictator never gets hurt. Like the Founding Fathers, Libertarians know that war is the first resort of political scoundrels, but the last resort of a free people. Libertarians know that the government’s role isn’t to police the world-or even to win wars. Government’s role is to keep us out of wars-and to protect us from foreign enemies, not create them. How would a Libertarian government assure our safety? Our foreign policy would be very simple: We are always ready to defend ourselves, but we threaten no one."

"We don’t need a simplified income tax. We don’t need a replacement tax. Our lives will be better only when we reduce the burden of taxes by reducing dramatically the cost of government. We’ve seen that you can’t get rid of government spending so long as you try to do it one program at a time. The pressure to keep any one program will be concentrated and intense, while the incentive for eliminating the program will be dispersed and diluted among millions of people. Americans will rally to large reductions in government only when they’re offered a large reward. And that reward is the total repeal of the income tax. We will never cut federal spending by even one dollar unless we offer the American people the complete repeal of the income tax as an incentive to reduce government. And we can’t repeal the income tax without reducing federal spending dramatically. The two tasks are inseparable. To attempt to do one without the other is a formula for failure."

"We have to get rid of the federal debt-the $5 trillion worth of credit card bills the politicians have charged to us. A good deal of the debt has been used to buy or build things. They may not seem valuable because of the way they’re used now. But they might become much more valuable if sold to people who knew how to use them productively. For example, the federal government owns 29% of all the land in the US, a total of 1 million square miles. As of 1991 it owned 441,000 buildings. If we shrink the government to what the Constitution permits, it won’t need most of those assets. In fact, over 90% of them could be sold-returned to the American people to be used productively. If the federal government’s unneeded assets can be sold for $12 trillion, we can achieve the following:[Pay all recipients] of Social Security a private annuity Balance the budget. Pay off the entire federal debt. Repeal all federal income taxes. Drop taxes at all levels from 49% to 28%."

"Welfare costs us plenty. But it also destroys lives. It perverts the natural incentives of everyone who is touched by it. Here are some examples: AFDS pays money to Mom only if there’s no Dad at home, so-surprise!-Dad goes away. A teenage girl can become independent of her parents by getting pregnant; otherwise, she must live off her parents and obey their rules. Which life is more attractive to most teenagers? Federal job-training for welfare recipients circumvents the need for a teenager to stay in school and learn how to make a living. The income test for welfare makes a low-paying job seem pointless. The availability of welfare reduces the incentive to save for emergencies. And once people don’t have savings, what else can they do but go on welfare when trouble strikes? The people who have been seduced by welfare have become wards of the state, unable to fend for themselves, with no self-respect and no self-confidence. Is this compassion?"

"We have to understand that politicians don’t want to reduce government. And it isn’t because they think the spending cuts would hurt too many people. It’s because they know it would hurt them. Unlike families and corporations, politicians don’t feel the burden of debt-only the elation of spending. So they have no incentive to restrain themselves. They can spend your money without limit to reward their friends. No matter what they say, neither the Democrats nor Republicans want to give up the power that allows them to bestow favors and exemptions on friends. Our salvation won’t come from politicians. We need people who will go to Washington not to reform government programs or to reduce them, but to get rid of them. We need leaders who don’t want to run the country, but who want to restore our right to run our own lives. We need legislators who don’t want to be politicians, but simply want to enjoy for themselves the freedom America once knew."

"What we really need is compassion of the mind - compassion for others that is directed intelligently and produces truly compassionate results."

"What is government? What makes it different from IBM or the Boy Scouts or a local security company? What separates government from the rest of society isn’t its size, its disregard for profit, its foresight, or its scope. The distinctive feature of government is coercion-the use of force and the threat of force to win obedience. This is how government differs from every other agency in society. The others persuade; government compels. For example, when someone demands that government help flood victims, he is saying he wants to force people to pay for flood relief. Otherwise, he’d be happy to have the Red Cross handle everything. Nothing involving government is voluntary-as it would be when a private company does something. One way or another, there is compulsion in every government activity. People seek the help of charity organizations [and so on] to urge others to support some cause. People turn to government to force others to support their cause."

"Whatever the price, identify it now. What will you have to go through to get where you want to be? There is a price you can pay to be free of the situation once and for all. It may be a fantastic price or a tiny one - but there is a price."

"Whatever the issue, let freedom offer us a hundred choices, instead of having government force one answer on everyone."

"When people do things for you, it's because they want to - because you, in some way, give them something meaningful that makes them want to please you, not because anyone owes you anything."

"Why won’t politicians [exert excessive control] over private schools once they get them hooked on federal money [via vouchers]? Has government ever subsidized anything without controlling it? Look at what has happened to colleges. Since 1975, if a single student at a college-public or private-receives any kind of government grant (even if the money doesn’t pass through the college), the school must comply with a long, long list of federal rules. It might seem that any private elementary school could just drop out of a voucher program if the federal government began imposing oppressive controls. In principle, it could. And so could colleges resist controls by dropping out of aid programs. But colleges don’t drop out. Once it’s become dependent on the manna from Washington, no college will turn it down-no matter how bad the controls become. For example, VMI and the Citadel were forced to overturn their most basic policies. Either could have evaded by rejecting federal aid, but neither did."

"While most people in TV, radio, and the press have treated me wonderfully, some of the most important people want to pretend I don't exist."

"Without “free” public schooling, how would the children of poor families be educated? First, an end to the income tax and school taxes would reduce dramatically the number of poor families. Second, poor children could acquire private schooling in the same manner as so many of them do now-through tuition aid provided by religious schools and private voucher programs. Far more children attend private schools today through private voucher programs than through government voucher programs. Numerous agencies administer programs to put poor children in private schools-programs paid for by private companies. And all this is achieved while government drains 47% of the national income from us in taxes. Suppose that tax load were cut in half-by repealing the federal income tax and local school taxes. Can you imagine how much money would be available to take care of any child in need of a good education?"

"Whenever I say that America has become an empire, someone is sure to say I'm being ridiculous."

"World War II has always been of great interest to me. I've known for decades that it was just one more war the politicians suckered us into."

"You don't need an explanation for everything, Recognize that there are such things as miracles - events for which there are no ready explanations. Later knowledge may explain those events quite easily."

"Would a transition program ease the move from today’s welfare system to a completely private, voluntary system? We have to remind ourselves over and over that government doesn’t work. So any government program to ease people off welfare--by retraining them or educating them--won’t work any better than the current welfare system works. The next President should announce to all people receiving welfare checks from the federal government: If I have my way, your federal welfare payments will end in eight months. So you have eight months to turn your life around, to find a job, to learn to take care of yourself. We expect to pay you for those eight months. So if you get a job tomorrow morning, you can get two checks each month for those eight months. Or you can wait until the last moment to change things. But even if you haven’t found a job in eight months, your checks from the federal government will end. So what are you going to do?"