“There can be no greater stretch of arbitrary power than is required to seize children from their parents, teach them whatever the authorities decree they shall be taught, and expropriate from the parents the funds to pay for the procedure…A tax-supported, compulsory educational system is the complete model of the totalitarian state” — philosopher Isabel Paterson, author of The God of the Machine.

“A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's business” — longshoreman and philosopher Eric Hoffer. For more on him, see https://bit.ly/2MNgRTh and https://bit.ly/2Nmkg0p.

“Individuals who have been wronged by unlawful racial discrimination should be made whole; but under our Constitution there can be no such thing as either a creditor or a debtor race. That concept is alien to the Constitution's focus upon the individual . . . . To pursue the concept of racial entitlement—even for the most admirable and benign of purposes—is to reinforce and preserve for future mischief the way of thinking that produced race slavery, race privilege and race hatred. In the eyes of government, we are just one race here. It is American” — the late, great U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peña, 515 U.S. 200, 239 (1995).

“If we seriously study entrepreneurs, the state, and the rise of big business in the United States, we will have to sacrifice the Marxist-inspired morality play of ‘greedy businessmen’ fleecing the public…But, in return, we will have a better understanding of the past and a sounder basis for building our future” — historian Burton W. Folsom in the fantastic concluding chapter titled “Entrepreneurs vs the Historians” in the 8th edition of his classic book, The Myth of the Robber Barons, available here: https://amzn.to/2PKj1Vi. You don’t know American economic history if you haven’t read it.

“Why would an ultimately factual question about the consequences of gun control laws divide people along ideological lines? Only if at least one set of people were more devoted to their vision than to the facts. This shows up when gun control zealots are asked whether whatever new law they propose would have prevented the shooting rampage that they are using as a stage from which to propose a new clampdown on gun ownership. Almost always, the new law being proposed would not have made the slightest difference. That too is part of the farce. A deadly farce. So is the automatic assertion that whoever engaged in a shooting rampage was a madman. Yet these supposedly crazy shooters are usually rational enough to choose some "gun-free zone" for their murderous attacks. They seem more rational than gun control zealots who keep creating more 'gun-free zones'. Gun control zealots are almost always people who are lenient toward criminals, while they are determined to crack down on law-abiding citizens who want to be able to defend themselves and their loved ones” — economist Thomas Sowell in “The Gun Control Farce,” (13 October 2015).

“Government is the most dangerous institution known to man. Throughout history it has violated the rights of men more than any individual or group of individuals could do: it has killed people, enslaved them, sent them to forced labor and concentration camps, and regularly robbed and pillaged them of the fruits of their expended labor. Unlike individual criminals, government has the power to arrest and try; unlike individual criminals, it can surround and encompass a person totally, dominating every aspect of one's life, so that one has no recourse from it but to leave the country (and in totalitarian nations even that is prohibited)…The only proper role of government, according to libertarians, is that of the protector of the citizen against aggression by other individuals. The government, of course, should never initiate aggression; its proper role is as the embodiment of the retaliatory use of force against anyone who initiates its use” — philosopher and 1972 Libertarian Party presidential nominee John Hospers, author of Libertarianism: A Political Philosophy for Tomorrow (1971).

“Deny human rights, and however little you may wish to do so, you will find yourself abjectly kneeling at the feet of that old-world god, Force, that grimmest and ugliest of gods that men have ever created for themselves out of the lusts of their hearts. You will find yourself hating and dreading all other men who differ from you; you will find yourself obligated by the law of the conflict into which you have plunged, to use every means in your power to crush them before they are able to crush you; you will find yourself day by day growing more unscrupulous and intolerant, more and more compelled by the fear of those opposed to you, to commit harsh and violent actions. You will find yourselves clinging to and welcoming Force, as the one and only form of protection left to you, when you have once destroyed the rule of the great principles…When once you have plunged into the strife for power, it is the fear of those who are seeking for power over you that so easily persuades to all the great crimes…Who shall count up the evil brood that is born from power—the pitiful fear, the madness, the despair, the overpowering craving for revenge, the treachery, the unmeasured cruelty?” — classical liberal philosopher, “voluntaryist” and parliamentarian Auberon Herbert, author of The Right and Wrong of Compulsion by the State (1885).

“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…If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind” — economist and philosopher John Stuart Mill in On Liberty (1859).

“If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind?” — French economist and statesman Frederic Bastiat in his classic, The Law, available at FEE.org.

“How does something immoral, when done privately, become moral when it is done collectively? Furthermore, does legality establish morality? Slavery was legal; apartheid is legal; Stalinist, Nazi, and Maoist purges were legal. Clearly, the fact of legality does not justify these crimes. Legality, alone, cannot be the talisman of moral people…But let me offer you my definition of social justice: I keep what I earn and you keep what you earn. Do you disagree? Well then tell me how much of what I earn belongs to you—and why?” — economist Walter Williams in All It Takes Is Guts: A Minority View.

“One of the basic causes for all the trouble in the world today is that people talk too much and think too little. They act too impulsively without thinking. I am not advocating in the slightest that we become mutes with our voices stilled because of fear of criticism of what we might say. That is moral cowardice. And moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk. The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character. The importance of individual thinking to the preservation of our democracy and our freedom cannot be overemphasized…You and I cannot escape the fact that the ultimate responsibility for freedom is personal. Our freedoms today are not so much in danger because people are consciously trying to take them away from us [she might have a different view of this today—LWR] as they are in danger because we forget to use them. Freedom unexercised may be freedom forfeited. The preservation of freedom is in the hands of the people themselves—not of the government” — former U.S. Senator from Maine Margaret Chase Smith.

“A man's natural rights are his own, against the whole world; and any infringement of them is equally a crime, whether committed by one man, or by millions; whether committed by one man, calling himself a robber, (or by any other name indicating his true character,) or by millions, calling themselves a government…The principle that the majority have a right to rule the minority, practically resolves all government into a mere contest between two bodies of men, as to which of them shall be masters, and which of them slaves; a contest, that—however bloody—can, in the nature of things, never be finally closed, so long as man refuses to be a slave” — from No Treason by political philosopher and entrepreneur Lysander Spooner.

“And now bills were passed, not only for national objects but for individual cases, and laws were most numerous when the commonwealth was most corrupt” — the ancient Roman historian Tacitus.

“Though liberals do a great deal of talking about hearing other points of view, it sometimes shocks them to learn that there are other points of view” — columnist and National Review founder William F. Buckley, referring not to classical liberals but to the big government liberals of today.

"The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools" — classical liberal political theorist Herbert Spencer, author of Social Statics and The Man Versus the State.

“I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature; and that power, whether vested in many or a few, is ever grasping, and, like the grave, cries, “Give, give!” The great fish swallow up the small; and he who is most strenuous for the rights of the people, when vested with power, is as eager after[wards] for the prerogatives of government” — Abigail Adams, second First Lady of the U.S. in a letter to husband John Adams (27 November 1775).

“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable, and so, if he is romantic, he tries to change it. And even if he is not romantic personally he is very apt to spread discontent among those who are" — journalist and iconoclastic social commentator H. L. Mencken in “Le Contrat Social" in Prejudices: Third Series (1922).

“The practical reason for freedom is that freedom seems to be the only condition under which any kind of substantial moral fiber can be developed. We have tried law, compulsion and authoritarianism of various kinds, and the result is nothing to be proud of” — political philosopher Albert Jay Nock in “Doing the Right Thing" in The American Mercury (1925).

"All history is one long story to this effect: men have struggled for power over their fellow men in order that they might win the joys of earth at the expense of others, might shift the burdens of life from their own shoulders upon those of others" -- social scientist and political philosopher William Graham Sumner.

“In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?” — 40th U.S. President Ronald Reagan, in his First Inaugural Address, January 1981.