Free Republic

June 21, 2004 The topic for our discussion this afternoon is "Why Limit Government?" I am tempted to give you the shortest speech you ever heard--just two words: "Why not?!" Yet such a flippant comment would persuade no one of anything and win no battles for liberty. Indeed, our movement may be overdue for a refresher on this very important question. As men and women who want to "limit" government, we sometimes come across to others as naysayers. As someone once said, we do a better job describing Hell than Heaven. Whenever we make the case for limiting government, we...

The Fascist Epithet Mack Tanner Epithets are always good political weap- ons. If they are well chosen, they paint the opponent's reputation so black that further discussion is no longer required. If an opponent is inherently evil, then one has no reason to expect that rational discussion and debate would produce any useful result. Therefore, once a political opponent has been appropriately labeled, that person can be shouted down and driven from the po-dium without the need of further discussion. Using epithets is obviously not engaging in logical political discourse, but politics isn't about logic, it's about winning and...