–James Madison
Yet another prescient quote from one of the greatest of our founding fathers. Just wait and see if he was right or not when unmanned drones start being routinely flown over the US now that it seems OK for the President to have a “Kill List”…
–From Charlie’s Blog
This is a very trenchant observation. Charlie’s Blog was always interesting to me primarily for his thoughts on government and a more Libertarian outlook–if one disregarded his incessant, pointless profanity and over-the-top anti-marriage and other rants.
But it seems he’s undergoing big changes: he actually got married and is in the process of going from Protestant-turned-Atheist to converting to Roman Catholicism. Not that any of those things are what I’m particularly interested in…
The really good stuff that bubbles up from time to time has to do with his observations on both Limited Government and Human Morality. This one comes from both those camps, really, and I couldn’t agree more. This is a pretty good explanation of what is happening all around us right now and nobody seems to care. This is why our country is falling apart and why people actually want to reelect our current president even as he actively works to drive us all over the cliff.
An increasing lack of freedom due to an increasing lack of virtue…
–Ayn Rand
This, my friends, is precisely where we all stand today. Nothing that any government anywhere is doing is helping the situation since they’re the ones getting rich off favors and not producing anything–and they can back it all up at gunpoint.
Are the corporations, bankers, entrepreneurs and free-market capitalists ruining the world? They have their flaws, yes, but mostly because they’re busy playing the perverse game governments have created–and are consequently getting richer by graft and pull. Without their willing accomplices in the halls of power stacking the deck, they’d have to do what true free-market forces require: live and die by whether their products and services are of value to people or not.
What can we do? I’m not sure, but I have my own ideas. Getting out of this cruel and crumbling system is what needs to happen–before it all collapses, anarchy sets in and the shooting starts. The older I get, the more Libertarian I become since that seems like the only way we can overcome the perpetual rape and pillage being brought about by the cronies on BOTH sides of the political spectrum. LESS government is the only answer.
Who knew that Ayn Rand was a prophetess? Just take a look at any of today’s headlines which seem to have been ripped straight from the pages of Atlas Shrugged…
Here is a perfect cartoon to illustrate the ludicrous fallacy that is known as Keynesian Economics, brought to you via the Cato Institute:
It’s absolutely appalling that government officials across the world actually think this works. The pain and suffering they’re putting us all through as they sell future generations down the river for a CYA today is reprehensible. Never mind the “Banksters” or “1%” it’s government that are the real criminals.
Click here to view Daniel J. Mitchell’s original Cato blog post for a little more enlightenment.
–P.J. O’Rourke
And just to go along with that theme, check out this report on the so-called “War on Poverty” that we’ve been waging–and failing–since Lyndon Johnson, courtesy of the Cato Institute. It’s bad enough throwing money down our current day rat-holes of military adventurism, bogus “Green Energy” projects for favored political donors and “entertainment” for Secret Service Agents and GSA employees (and their spouses). Why do we think it’s a good idea to continue flushing $1 TRILLION (yes, a “T”) every year on “fighting” poverty by redistributing wealth yet not actually reducing poverty?
Government needs to be drastically and ruthlessly downsized at all levels in this country…
I really loved this New Year illustration I found online. I think I will make him my mascot and adopt this saying for 2012.
I found this essay by Steve Conover via Charlie’s Blog today, and it is absolutely brilliant! Finally somebody actually speaks the truth about the ludicrous and damaging class warfare being pushed by the Democrats, media and OWS morons. The proper target is all wrong:
The point is this: If we’re going to have a war, let’s do it right. The battle lines should be drawn orthogonally to the oversimplified “rich versus the rest.” A virtuous war would be one that rewards society’s honest earners and productive contributors, while punishing society’s predators, pirates, and parasites—all without regard to anyone’s income level. It is a target-rich environment that includes anyone (of any income level) who is cheating to win, any business or union (of any size) with its snout in the public trough, any politician filling that trough and feeding those snouts for reciprocal gain, and any group using the political system (at any level) to maintain its monopoly, or its winning “edge” against less-well-connected competitors.
Amen, brother.
Go read the entire essay on the American Enterprise Institute website.
journey, not destination 