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Monthly Archives: February 2012

Conservatism is Libertarian <– Ronald Reagan

22 Feb

Reagan appointee Ron Paul, sitting with The Gipper, himself

If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism.

I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals — if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories.

The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.

— Ronald Reagan, interview with Reason Magazine (1975)

 
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Posted by on February 22, 2012 in Liberty, Philosophy, Politics

 

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I’ll Defend, to the Death, Your Right <– Evelyn Beatrice Hall

16 Feb

Evelyn Beatrice Hall was paraphrasing Voltaire's mindset, not quoting him. The closest he ever came was "Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too", in Essay on Tolerance

‘What a fuss about an omelette!‘ he had exclaimed when he heard of the burning. How abominably unjust to persecute a man for such an airy trifle as that!

‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,’ was his attitude now.

— Evelyn Beatrice Hall, in The Friends of Voltaire, summarizing Voltaire’s defense of a censored book (1906)

 
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Posted by on February 16, 2012 in Freedom of Expression, Philosophy, Politics

 

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The Flip-Flopping Moderate <– Mencken

07 Feb

It is moral by his code to get into office by false pretences. It is moral to change convictions overnight. Anything is moral that furthers the main concern of his soul, which is to keep a place at the public trough.

Ostensibly he is an altruist devoted whole-heartedly to the service of his fellow-men, and so abjectly public-spirited that his private interest is nothing to him. Actually, he is a sturdy rogue whose principal, and often sole aim in life is to butter his parsnips.

His technical equipment consistes simply of an armamentarium of deceits.

It is his business to get and hold his job at all costs. If he can hold it by lying he will hold it by lying. if lying peters out he will try and hold it by embracing new truths.

His ear is ever close to the ground.

— H. L. Mencken on elected politicians, Notes on Democracy (1926)

 
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Posted by on February 7, 2012 in Politics

 

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Honest Cynicism <– Lillian Hellman

02 Feb

Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth.

— Lillian Hellman, The Little Foxes (1939)

 
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Posted by on February 2, 2012 in education, Humor, Philosophy

 

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Punishing the Industrious <– J.S. Mill

01 Feb

"The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant."

Both in England and on the Continent a graduated property tax (l’impôt progressif [progressive tax]) has been advocated, on the avowed ground that the state should use the instrument of taxation as a means of mitigating the inequalities of wealth.

I am as desirous as any one that means should be taken to diminish those inequalities, but not so as to relieve the prodigal at the expense of the prudent.

To tax the larger incomes at a higher percentage than the smaller is to lay a tax on industry and economy; to impose a penalty on people for having worked harder and saved more than their neighbours.

It is not the fortunes which are earned, but those which are unearned, that it is for the public good to place under limitation.

— John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy (1848)

 
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Posted by on February 1, 2012 in economic, Philosophy, Politics

 

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