Quotes of the Week

From the Light:

“Our society wastes so much time and resources on tit-for-tat politics. I know. Game theory says "they force our hand." But we must acknowledge that the decline of Tocqueville's America is due in large measure to diverting resources and manpower to titanic tug-o-wars over which party gets to be our masters.”
Max Borders

“No matter how much the government controls the economic system, any problem will be blamed on whatever small zone of freedom that remains.”
Sheldon Richman

"In the United States, government has become expert at manipulating both left-wing and right-wing ideologies. It keeps those on both ends of the spectrum set at each other’s throats in order to ensure the government’s continuing independence from accountability."
Paul Craig Roberts

“The chief men and women among you are pathologically driven to control everyone and everything that moves upon this planet. You have made yourselves the judge of every human activity. No god-king of the ancient world ever had the power that your systems do. You have created a world where only the neutered are safe and where only outlaws are free.”
Anonymous, referring to the governments of the earth; part of A Declaration of Separation.

“The Janus-faced American hegemon [Obama] speaks out of both sides of his mouth, and in two voices: one for the masses, who delight in his soaring idealism and seeming ability to express their deepest aspirations, and one for the elites, who hear a promise of continuity rather than change.”
Justin Raimondo

"Is the state capable of killing to achieve its goals? One could always ask Randy Weaver and the Waco survivors, not to mention the families of tens of thousands of soldiers and millions of Vietnamese and Iraqis."
Michael Gaddy

“Traditionalists should have no difficulty understanding why the modern state is so corrupt and destructive. Such is the enviable result of concentrating power in human hands. Without the state men would still be dangerous, but would not have their disposal an institution in which power is so concentrated and unchecked. Reforming the state is impossible and utopian: to reform the state would require reforming human nature.”

Daniel MacCarthy

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human liberty. It is the argument of tyrants, it is the creed of slaves.”

William Pitt

“Coercive interference in human action invariably leads to unintended- and undesirable- consequences. More government power to interfere will just lead to more unintended consequences (and demands for more power)."

Philip Murray

From the Darkness:

"The global financial system as we know it was forged by deregulation underpinned by a belief in free markets. That approach failed. The task now is to prove it can be set running again with better brakes and steering... By the end of the week, the world will have a clearer idea whether the system can survive."

Peter Thal Larsen , Financial Times

"Market forces, if left unchecked, will lead to asset bubbles and ultimately a disastrous market clearing in the form of a financial crisis like the current one."
A report from the Chinese central bank [What would you expect Communists to say?]

"President Obama is disarming America. Never before has a president so ravaged the military at a time of war."

Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), responding to the miserly defense cuts proposed by B. Obama

"America, like every other nation, has made mistakes and has its flaws. But for more than two centuries we have strived at great cost and sacrifice to form a more perfect union."
Barry Obama

“There are certain things only a government can do. And one of those things is ensuring that the foods we eat, and the medicines we take, are safe and do not cause us harm.”
Barry Obama, asking Congress for $1 billion in new funds to add FDA inspectors and modernize laboratories.

“It is difficult to imagine producing behavior change of this magnitude through education alone, even if government devoted massive resources to the task. Only heftier taxes will significantly reduce consumption.”

Dr. Thomas R. Friedan, New York City health Commissioner, in an article advocating “hefty” taxes on sodas and sports drinks containing sugar.