Sunday, March 13, 2011

Quotes of the Week

From the Light:
“The world is changing. Trying to use the coercive power of the state to maintain the status quo is a doomed effort. It's like trying to carry water in your hands for an entire marathon.”
Doug Casey

“Ethics are what I think of as objective right and wrong. Unchangeable regardless of the prevailing culture. Based upon the Zero Aggression Principle, and the recognition that theft and fraud are also always wrong, no matter what pretty names you give them, and no matter what ‘authority’ claims that, in this instance, they are OK, ethics stay rooted in place.”
Kent McManigal

“In no other nation do five lawyers determine what is lawful and what is not. This supreme authority of five people is both a symbol and the legal foundation of the political system that rules 310 million Americans. Yet we are so used to it that we give it no thought. We assume that this is normative: ‘the way things are 'sposed to be.’ Yet it is neither normative nor Constitutional. It is merely traditional.”
Gary North

“So praise God for the market’s ‘invisible hand‘! Effortlessly and without thought on our part, it transforms self-interest into a facsimile of genuine love. Like a newborn’s doting mother, the successful businessman anticipates and fills our needs. He’s as generous as your best friend on your birthday, selling us what we want at a good price. He overlooks our shortcomings as would a beloved aunt, happily dealing with us though there’s dirt under our fingernails or stains on our shirt.”
Becky Akers

“Our forefathers tried hereditary rule, divine rule, rule by majority, minority, by power, money and force of every stripe and style. They drafted manifestos, constitutions, bills of rights and Little Red Books. Every conceivable form of 'The State' has been given its turn. We've tweaked it, tortured it and tinkered with it for long enough. And now, after six millennia in the political lab, after countless wars and untold lives surrendered to whatever the 'cause of the day' happened to be, we see what we have for our troubles.”
Joel Bowman

“A human being must have the heart and soul, the basic morality, and integral consistency of human beings in general. These sociopaths [rulers] who routinely destroy societies and murder and steal with total abandon and spy secretly on everyone and betray and lie with total abandon are not human beings. They are more like the evil zombie erstwhile people in science fiction movies who look and talk like human beings, but are really doing so to deceive people so they can steal their lives and societies, or reprogram them as zombies through the central planning of education or brain implants, or murder them to take over their lands. They once were human beings, but they have been totally possessed by the lust for power and by greed and blood lust—the love of destruction and murder and torture and destruction of real human beings who still have human hearts and souls and minds.”
Jack Douglas

“Whenever the state finds itself in a condition of political, economic, or social instability, it will dredge up bogeymen as fear-objects with which to reinforce the herd mentality.
Butler Shaffer

“Today, democracy and all of its many accoutrements make up an extravaganza for celebrating and purifying the acts of the modern, total state. Free market anarchism simply calls for a democratic ideal wherein unchained individuals would resolve problems and come to conclusions through nonviolent channels of action. Regardless of the details of bills moving about in state legislatures, the democracy of the state will always be of the state, by the state and for the state.”
David D'Amato

"There are, of course, very noticeable differences between an addiction to drugs and an addiction to state violence. The most important difference is that drug addiction is far less dangerous. The people who smoke marijuana in their basements are far less dangerous than the statists, like Newt Gingrich, who support the due process free detention of innocent people. The people who drop acid in the privacy of their own homes are far less dangerous than the statists, like Newt Gingrich, who advocate using the coercive power of the state to violate the property rights of others."
R.K. Blacksher

“The very concept of having no rulers often encounters fears of a power vacuum – an unsustainable, dangerous situation that can only end in the re-establishment of rulers. But the rejection of authority does not mean that power is up for grabs — it means that power is widely distributed, making it harder for tyrants to usurp.”
Darian Worden

“Actually, I’m not sure why we went into space at all. There’s nothing there. I mean, that’s how you know it’s space.”
Fred Reed
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From the Darkness:
"It's a slap in the face for anyone who fought for civil rights in this country. It's a symbol of hatred and bigotry."
Adolph Mongo, head of Detroiters for Progress objecting to Kid Rock’s use of the Confederate flag during his performances. [The myth lives on.]

"Believe it or not, we love our constituents as much as you all do, and we want to do right for them…"
Haley Barbour, Mississippi Republican governor, speaking to the US House

“I strongly oppose Ron Paul. think he’s horrific. He wants us to end the War on Drugs. He wants us to end the War on Terror.”
Dick Morris

"Frankly, there is too much talk about leaving and not enough talk about getting the job done right. We will not sacrifice the significant gains made to date, or the lives lost, for a political gestures. n return, we expect the same from you.”
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, threatening NATO allies against pulling out of Afghanistan

“There is nothing radical or un-American in holding these hearings."
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) as he launched his McCarthyite probe of American Muslims.

"You're the state [New Hampshire] where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord."
Michelle Bachman, speaking to Tea Party dolts in New Hampshire [Sorry to break it to you, Michelle, but those cities you mentioned are in Massachusetts.]

3 comments:

Don said...

Perhaps you need a third category, Roger -- people from the dark who occasionally say something incredibly good and worthwhile -- e.g., Robert Gates admission that the US ought to stop having so many wars.

Enlightened Rogue said...

Don- Occasionally I see quotes from politicians that make good sense but I just don't trust their sincerity. Only Ron Paul is consistent in his views. I don't want to give them positive publicity one week and have them embarrass me a day later with a very "dark" quote. As for Gates- don't be surprised that a week from now he totally flip flops. Politicians and their operatives believe in nothing but power and will say anything to maintain it. They have no consistent principles they abide by. I'll stick to quoting (for the most part) those I trust that truly believe what they say.

Don said...

Agreed, agreed, and agreed!