Quotes of the Week

Enlightened insights taken from the past week’s reading:

"Harkening back to melodramas about the American Civil War and the careful programming of government schools, the mention of states declaring their independence from Washington can evoke calls of 'TREASON!' But is it really treason to demand that your government keep up its side of the political bargain under pain of divorce? In a word, no, not by the Constitution. But if the word is to be applied liberally, it has implications for those that would all too often use it to silence their opponents.
The U.S. Constitution is clear on the matter of treason, defining it as 'levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.' That’s by the book for Americans, the legal definition. Promoting secession is none of those things listed in COTUS. And for secession (voting for it or promotion of it) to be treason, it must be illegal first, and stated so in COTUS. Yet, there is no clause in COTUS to prevent a state leaving the Union. In fact, the ninth and tenth amendment make it clear that unless a power is given to Washington or denied to the states, it remains a power of the sovereign states. This includes the power to leave the Union. Sure, you could cite courts or famous politicians trying to make the opposite case, but even the most famous politician is not the Constitution itself. Unless abrogated by amendment, COTUS stands."
Ryan Thorson

"The false left/right paradigm is a perfect petri dish for obtaining or manufacturing the consent of the masses to be hypnotized. They want to believe that their team, which they have willingly joined, is the correct team and that the leadership of that team has their best interests at heart. They want to believe that the actions of their party, through legislation or direct means, are always rational and morally sound. And even when the leaders of their party do things which are completely contrary to the beliefs and morals of the people who make up the party, those people still want to believe that there must be some logical reason behind these decision that they do not yet understand.Beyond this, the threat of the 'other party' or team is an ever-constant stimulus in the form of fear. When people are afraid or hyperfocused on an outside threat, they once again become more suggestible. This is why mainstream political discussions focus less on understanding of the threat and more on perpetuating the threat — with understanding of the enemy, the threat can be assessed, and fear is reduced, even if the threat is real. Without understanding, fear only increases. Political powers only seek to constantly remind us that threats exist; they do not want us to have an in-depth knowledge of the mechanic behind the threats."
Brandon Smith

"What chance does peace have when millions of well-heeled, politically connected opportunists of all stripes depend on the continuation of a state of war for their personal financial success? For members of Congress, the Department of Homeland Security has quickly become the most magnificent dispenser of pork and patronage to come along in decades. Everyone is happy here, except for the beleaguered ordinary citizens, whose pockets are being picked and whose liberties are being overridden by politicians and private-sector predators with utter contempt for the people’s intelligence and rights. Yet, so long as the people continue to be consumed by fear and to fall for the age-old swindle that the government seeks only to protect them, these abuses will never end."
Robert Higgs

"Antifa is assuming powers that no one is granting them but themselves. If you and I decide that conservatives are a danger to people, are we right to label them as fascists and to follow this up by closing down their events and gatherings by violent means? Is it right for us or Antifa or any private group of people to become a law unto itself of this warlike and violent kind? No, it is wrong, and it is wrong because we ourselves in forming such a group and acting violently are breaking the peace. This is why Antifa should be crushed and why it’s the duty of authorities to do their jobs and keep the peace."
Michael Rozeff

"Free market libertarians regularly get accused by political opponents of wanting to empower corporations. But statist interventions are what empower corporations via cronyism and political privileges and protections from competition, interventions that Libertarians consistently oppose.
Accusing free-market advocates of being corporate shills is as absurd as it is lazy."
Bradley Thomas

"To threaten death to anyone who searches for or speaks the truth, or to allow the state to murder anyone of its choosing, is as open an admission of the fraudulent nature of any system that engages in the practice. Far beyond that, such life-threatening war against truth-speaking is also a war against the uncertainties that inhere in a complex world. We do not have the luxury of censoring, punishing, or destroying persons who would speak truth that is bothersome to those in power while, at the same time, avoiding the anti-life consequences made more far-reaching by political systems."
Butler Shaffer

"I thank the Gods every day that the politicians are so monstrously stupid, economically illiterate, short sighted and prone to such colossal failure in everything they do. One would be hard pressed to point to a single government program in the US for example whose existence made life better for anyone outside government employment. What is indisputable is that all innovation in human history starts in a single mind absent a gun to the head to provide the good or service."
Bill Buppert

"Left-wing rage gave us the Khmer Rouge and Mao's Cultural Revolution, not to mention atrocities of all shapes and sizes all over the world.
The KKK in its entire existence did not kill as many people as did a communist regime on a good afternoon.
Even today, when the KKK barely exists, leftists are hysterical about it, even though its demonstrations amount to 50 idiots being confronted by 1000 counter-demonstrators.
Yeah, scary."
Tom Woods

"The Russian media was banned from the  conference on press freedom, because the Russian media is free and the UK and US media are not.  The People Really In Charge—PRICs—are at work shutting down the rest of us as fast as they can.
Before long, the only words you will hear will be those used to control you.  The word freedom will be redefined as per George Orwell’s 1984 or be prohibited.  It will die as a word whose meaning is unknown."
Paul Craig Roberts

"News media must be consumed with an acute awareness that there are extremely powerful people who have a vested interest in manipulating the way you think and perceive. It’s just a fact, and if it isn’t at the forefront of your consciousness, your worldview will necessarily be severely malformed. Cultivating a reflexive curiosity about who benefits from a given narrative being promoted nips this in the bud."
Caitlin Johnstone

"Politicians love to separate people into subgroups and label them as 'minorities' and pit them against each other by offering one group special privileges not afforded another or ginning up animosity between them based on spurious claims and allegations. Prosecutors and judges can define what is hate and what is not; and what hate is good and acceptable and what is not. From there prosecutors and judges can demonize a criminal or crime or population segment (based on ideology, social status, race, etc.) they don't like and subject them to special penalties when they commit crimes."
Bob Livingston

"That leftist street punks, with the help of leftist media types and Democratic politicians, have been intimidating, threatening, suppressing, and, what is most alarming, physically beating up on those who they perceive as conservatives is a well-known open secret.  These victims, in the vast majority of instances, are those who make it possible for Big Conservatives to exist, for they constitute their audience(s).  This being said, it’s beyond irresponsible that Big Conservatives, ever-fearful of saying or doing anything that could lend credence to the left’s charges against them, won’t so much as call for their constituents to protect themselves."
Jack Kerwick

"The right of self-determination in regard to the question of membership in a state thus means: whenever the inhabitants of a particular territory, whether it be a single village, a whole district, or a series of adjacent districts, make it known, by a freely conducted plebiscite, that they no longer wish to remain united to the state to which they belong at the time, but wish either to form an independent state or to attach themselves to some other state, their wishes are to be respected and complied with. This is the only feasible and effective way of preventing revolutions and civil and international wars."
Ludwig von Mises

"Some may object – when I say everyone should pay his own way and the state should have absolutely no involvement in healthcare – that I’m putting a price on a human life. They say that a life has 'infinite' value. But like most of what you hear in this ridiculous debate, that’s a lie, told by the duplicitous and believed by the unthinking. There are lots of ways to figure out what a life is worth. How much can be negotiated for ransom on a kidnapping? How much is a thug paid for a 'hit'? How much is the annual premium for life insurance? How much is the present value of someone’s estimated lifetime earnings?
But what we’re talking about here, in the context of national medical insurance, is how much you’re willing to pay to keep a complete stranger alive."
Doug Casey

"If someone puts their hands on you make sure they never put their hands on anybody else again."
Malcom X