One Ring to Rule Them All

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Mon, 06 Jan 2003 13:00:00 GMT
From samizdata:
"It is useless for sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while wolves remain of a different opinion." -- William Ralph Inge

From highroad:

"'A well-crafted pepperoni pizza, being necessary to the preservation of a diverse menu, the right of the people to keep and cook tomatoes, shall not be infringed.' I would ask you to try to argue that this statement says that only pepperoni pizzas can keep and cook tomatoes, and only well-crafted ones at that. This is basically what the so-called states rights people argue with respect to the well-regulated militia, vs. the right to keep and bear arms." -- Bruce Tiemann

The High Road - Great quotes - freedom, liberty, and tyranny - good collection of quotes and links to quotes.

From highroad:

Neal Boortz - Great Quotes! [highroad]

"The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities." -- Ayn Rand

Kent Van Cleave at The Libertarian Enterprise - One Ring/Security - cartoon commentary on trading liberty for security. Hehe.

Joel Simon at The Libertarian Enterprise - Very, Very Strange Bedfellows - why Mr. Simon will not be pursuing an alliance with the Not in Our Name crowd, even though he agrees with their opposition to Bushnev's war on everyone response to terrorism. This is why I have a hard time going to anti-drug-war events. They're mostly attended by socialists of various stripes with a handful of libertarians thrown in as seasoning. BTW, the next anti-war rally by the Not in Our Name crowd is the A.N.S.W.E.R. January 18 March on Washington. [tle]

William Stone, III at The Libertarian Enterprise - Lying to God - When Mr. Stone explained the oath of office that every president takes, his very smart daughter recognized immediately that George Bush lied to God. [tle]

When my daughter realized that President Bush was breaking a promise he made to God, it completely changed the context of the hideous things he does. It was no longer the he was violating the highest law of the country. It was that he lied to GOD.

You don't lie to God. It's a million orders of magnitude worse than lying to a friend or a parent. Punishment for lying to a parent can be severe, but Mommy will eventually give you another chance.

When you lie to God, you go to Hell for all eternity.

Gene Callahan at The Libertarian Enterpise - Persuasion and Coercion - an exploration of the difference. [tle]

Taxation, on the other hand, is inherently coercive. The fact that some people would pay requested taxes without the threat of violence behind the request does not make the threat non-existent. Nor does the fact that the level of taxes may have been arrived at "democratically" have any bearing on the question. Imagine that instead of just me, it is two of my friends and me who find some woman very attractive. Rather than persuade her to have sex with all of us, we inform her that we have outvoted her, and that it is the "will of the majority" that we have our way with her, or else. Would any person with a scrap of moral sense find that more acceptable than solo rape?

The means by which private corporations acquire revenue stands in sharp contrast to taxation. Even a corporation as powerful as Microsoft will simply leave me alone if I refuse to buy their software. Certainly they might make attempts to reach me with advertising (a form of persuasion), but they will not send armed men to abduct me and lock me away at Redmond headquarters if I pay them no mind.

David Carr at samizdata.net - The sleep of reason - the socialists in the UK still don't get it. Crime continues to skyrocket, and they blame the disarmed victims. [samizdata]

Gail Johnson at straight.com - Ibogaine a One-Way Trip to Sobriety, Pot Head Says - Marc Emory has started Iboga Therapy House, a place where drug addicts (cocaine, heroin, alcohol, nicotine) can go to lose their addictions. Links to The Ibogaine Dossier, ibogaine.org, a wealth of Ibogaine resources. [cures-not-wars]

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