Kuldebar
07-28-2007, 01:41 AM
Writer, Gary North (http://www.garynorth.com/)
My professor, Robert Nisbet, once commented that in the year of his birth, 1913, the only contact that most Americans had with the Federal government was the U.S. Post Office.
My father-in-law, R. J. Rushdoony, born three years later, once commented that 1913 was the last year of the golden age of America: after indoor plumbing but before the income tax. That was a long time ago.
Leonard E. Read, the founder of the Foundation for Economic Education in 1946, used to say that Americans live in a country in which various levels of government extract over 40% of their productivity, yet they call this system freedom. "They don’t know the difference between freedom and coercion."
So, I do not pay much attention to national politics. Politics always reflects the understanding of the voters, and the voters cannot tell the difference between freedom and coercion. Worse: they are unwilling to surrender coercion for freedom.
It is not just America. Citizens all over the world are persuaded of the grand illusion of the 20th century, namely, that government coercion provides personal security: a safety net against hard times. They look at the government’s net and think "safety." I look at the net and think "entrapment." Voters say, "Don’t take away the net. We paid for it. We deserve it." They do, indeed.
Read the full article at the link below.
Ron Paul and the Greased Pig (http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north552.html)
My professor, Robert Nisbet, once commented that in the year of his birth, 1913, the only contact that most Americans had with the Federal government was the U.S. Post Office.
My father-in-law, R. J. Rushdoony, born three years later, once commented that 1913 was the last year of the golden age of America: after indoor plumbing but before the income tax. That was a long time ago.
Leonard E. Read, the founder of the Foundation for Economic Education in 1946, used to say that Americans live in a country in which various levels of government extract over 40% of their productivity, yet they call this system freedom. "They don’t know the difference between freedom and coercion."
So, I do not pay much attention to national politics. Politics always reflects the understanding of the voters, and the voters cannot tell the difference between freedom and coercion. Worse: they are unwilling to surrender coercion for freedom.
It is not just America. Citizens all over the world are persuaded of the grand illusion of the 20th century, namely, that government coercion provides personal security: a safety net against hard times. They look at the government’s net and think "safety." I look at the net and think "entrapment." Voters say, "Don’t take away the net. We paid for it. We deserve it." They do, indeed.
Read the full article at the link below.
Ron Paul and the Greased Pig (http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north552.html)