Thoughts, essays, and writings on Liberty. Written by the heirs of Patrick Henry.

“To be GOVERNED is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wistom nor the virtue to do so. To be GOVERNED is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to be placed under contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed; then, at the slightest resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, vilified, harrassed, hunted down, abused, clubbed, disarmed, bound, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed; and to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, derided, outraged, dishonored. That is government; that is its justice; that is its morality.”     P. J. Proudhon,    General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century

September 22, 2009

Quote Of The Day

by Brad Warbiany

From Ian Millhiser, who derides “tenthers”, the folks who actually believe the 10th Amendment was designed as a meaningful check on the federal government.

More important, there is something fundamentally authoritarian about the tenther constitution. Social Security, Medicare, and health-care reform are all wildly popular, yet the tenther constitution would shackle our democracy and forbid Congress from enacting the same policies that the American people elected them to advance. After years of raging against mythical judges who “legislate from the bench,” tenther conservatives now demand a constitution that will not let anyone legislate at all.

Huh… So by not wanting a hugely powerful federal government regulating and monitoring every aspect of my life, I’m an authoritarian?

I guess if Ian Millhiser would call himself anti-authoritarian — which I would guess he does — he’ll support letting us “tenthers” opt out of these government programs for which we disagree? After all, we don’t want to impede his ability to have the government he wants, as long as we don’t have to have the government he wants too.

Hat Tip: Popehat

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Slashdot
  • StumbleUpon
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Permalink || Comments (1) || Categories: Constitution,Quote of the Day,Separation Of Powers,The Bill Of Rights
TrackBack URI: http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2009/09/22/quote-of-the-day-102/trackback/
Read more posts from
• • •

1 Comment

  1. we don’t want to impede his ability to have the government he wants, as long as we don’t have to have the government he wants too.
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Or, to put it another way, he can have the gov’t HE wants as long as I can have the gov’t I want, I mean, it’s only fair, right?

    Comment by Don — September 23, 2009 @ 9:00 am

Comments RSS

Subscribe without commenting

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.

Powered by: WordPress • Template by: Eric • Banner #1, #3, #4 by Stephen Macklin • Banner #2 by Mark Rayner • XML