Quotes of the Week

Enlightened insights taken from the past week’s reading:

"Everyone once took for granted that the goal was to seize the federal apparatus and impose their vision on the country.
How about just abandoning this crazy, inhumane task?
Why not admit the differences are irreconcilable, and simply go our separate ways?
Even though the idea of ceasing the low-intensity civil war that exists between irreconcilable worldviews is obviously the only humane approach, we are not allowed to discuss it. Why, you're an 'extremist'!"
Tom Woods

"America is ruled by lies. Truth is completely absent. And the American population tolerates it. Rule by lies is now the American Way."
Paul Craig Roberts

"AOC is clearly an intelligent person, and some of what she says is true. One of her central themes, in fact, is that a lot of people are getting screwed by the system. And it’s hard to argue with that.
The primary danger, as is the case with most politicians, is that AOC doesn’t seem to have a grasp of the problem. 
Why are people getting screwed by the system? Why is healthcare so expensive? Why is education so expensive? Why haven’t many workers’ wages kept up with inflation?
She makes no attempt to understand the root cause of these issues, and that’s extremely counterproductive. No one can solve a problem which they haven’t properly defined.
Instead, AOC simply blames wealthy people for all the ills of the world-- the wealth gap, environmental issues, social injustice, etc. 
And her solution for everything is to confiscate their property."
Simon Black

"When you’ve made a lot of money, it should be because you provided goods and services to society. Unless you’ve actually stolen. You’ve already done something good for society. That’s why they gave you wealth, in trade for the wealth you created for them. You don’t have to 'give back.'
Wealthy people who feel they have to 'give back' are subtly, and not so subtly, signaling that they stole from society. No wonder the hoi polloi believe that business steals from them, and socialism is a good thing.
You never hear a government employee or official say that he’s going to 'give back.' They’re actually the ones who have stolen, living on others’ involuntary taxes. The entire moral compass has been turned around and inverted in this regard."
Doug Casey

"He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable love-of-country stance, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."
Albert Einstein

"No matter how much effort I expend in order to understand mankind, and why death, destruction, and power wins out over compassion and harmony, I continually fall short in my efforts. This has always been frustrating for me, as I truly want to see the best in man, but experience has dampened that desire. I only have respect for the individual, and it is my position that only individuals can seek and find the truth, and use that knowledge to better themselves and then become a light for others to follow. In other words, the individual is what will save us, not the collective mass of those non-thinkers."
Gary D. Barnett

"While conservatives would have us believe a strong national state is necessary to 'draw...together' the people of the United States, the reality is the US was characterized by highly decentralized political systems, a weak central state, and an exceptionally high degree of economic freedom. It was never true that nationalistic anti-market policies of the sort now favored by conservatives were what made the US of the past into a relatively wealthy and cohesive society.
Indeed, the opposite is true. As the power of the state grew ever larger during the second half of the twentieth century, communities became weaker. Old social networks broke down. Religious organizations went into decline. Families fell apart. Thanks to policies similar to those of Bismarck's conservative welfare state, national policy forged 'a system of mutual obligation between the State and its citizens.' The taxes, regulations, and protectionist schemes — that Tucker Carlson tells us are so essential — were also the cornerstone of national policy over the past fifty years."
Ryan McMaken

"The only thing roaring in the coming decade will be the furious road noise of the Deep State as it strains technology, and races for its very life, against the growing humanity of actual Americans and their growing awareness of reality.  Appearing well-coiffed, soft-handed, clean and refined, it is kith and kin to a monster hog.  People all over the country who have faced an inundation of wild hogs, running rampant, destroying property, economy, and even liberty, will recognize the squeals, the destruction and the debris.  Our roaring Twenties will prefigure the death screams of this overfed demon, and the inconsolable wailing of the 90%."
Karen Kwiatkowski

"Our historical importance was a battle against tyranny, and we’ve allowed ourselves again to be tyrannized. We’ve even pursued it under the delusion that it made us better off by uniting us into a powerful empire with magical economic powers. It’s past time to wake up. Half of us at least think that Trump is the problem or that climate is the problem or that being accepted as gay or transgender is the problem or that slavery is the problem. The problem is tyranny and our acceptance, even desire, for tyranny. Too many of us want to rule over everyone else or enslave them, and they debate what enactments will best accomplish this. Freedom requires a different attitude altogether.
What we face is tyranny that’s far worse than that of King George. People in 1776 fully understood that tyranny could have domestic sources once the King was removed from power, and they looked to people’s control of their legislatures and divided government, among other things like a constitution, to avoid anarchy and support their newly-won freedom. They explicitly thought that they could not long prosper in a state of nature. Knowing the tendency of men to grasp for power and become tyrants, they thought that representation would avoid the problem of domestic tyranny. This has proven insufficient to such an extent that we now face the problem of tyranny worse than King George’s all over again."
Michael Rozeff

"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

"The communists in America are scared to death of private weaponry, they look on with horror at historical lessons like the 'plink-a-pinko' engagements of British police actions in 1775 when the obedient Regular went out to confiscate the privately held artillery, shells, guns and munitions of the British colonist who objected rather severely to imperial overreach and excessive taxation.
They know that ultimately you either force the entry of a communist death-ship in a country or vote your way into it as they are attempting now, but you will always have to shoot your way out of it."
Bill Buppert

"'Diversity' is the highest goal of students and professors who openly detest those with whom they disagree. These people support the very antithesis of higher education with their withering attacks on free speech. Both in and out of academia, the content of a man’s character is no longer as important as the color of his skin, his sex, his sexual preferences or his political loyalties."
Walter Williams

"Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using his intelligence; he is just using his memory."
Leonardo da Vinci

"I wish the world was ending next week. I am tired of paying outrageous taxes. It would be nice to migrate to a different plane of existence. Hopefully, they don’t have corrupt governments, regulations, and taxes there."
Martin Armstrong