Free Republic

"Each of us has a natural right, from God, to defend his person, his liberty, and his property." "The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." "Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state lives at the expense of everyone." "Slavery, protection, and monopoly find defenders, not only in those who profit by them, but in those who suffer by them." "There are two principles between which there can be no compromise – liberty and coercion." "The most urgent necessity is, not that...

Renewable energy has become a potent rallying cry uniting Hollywood and the Beltway. “We can move our economy town by town, state by state to renewable energy and a sustainable future,” Leonardo DiCaprio says in his eight-minute climate movie Carbon, released in August. In his fiscal-showdown speech during his first term, in April 2011, President Obama put Paul Ryan’s proposals for a 70 percent cut in clean energy at the top of his list of reprehensible and unnecessary reductions. “These aren’t the kind of cuts you make when you’re trying to get rid of some waste or find extra savings...

Steve Hayward pointed out recently that economist Thomas Sowell shares the same birthday as Frederic Bastiat – they were both born on June 30. To recognize Bastiat’s birthday I shared some of his quotes on CD earlier this week, and I’ll now do the same today for Thomas Sowell, who turned 85 yesterday. Here is Thomas Sowell’s webpage and here is his Wikipedia entry. Milton Friedman once said, “The word ‘genius’ is thrown around so much that it’s becoming meaningless, but nevertheless I think Tom Sowell is close to being one.” And because Thomas Sowell is such a prolific...

>I’ve periodically cited the great 19th-century French economist, Frederic Bastiat, forhis very wise words about the importance of looking at both the seen and the unseen when analyzing public policy.Those that fail to consider secondary or indirect effects of government, such as Paul Krugman, are guilty of the “broken window” fallacy.There are several examples we can cite.A sloppy person, for instance, will think a higher minimum wage is good because workers will have more income. But a thoughtful analyst will think of the unintended consequence of lost jobs for low-skilled workers.An unthinking person will conclude that government spending is good...

November 11, 2003 New York leads the country again, paying $141 per thousand dollars of personal income in state and local taxes. This is 72 per cent more than the national average, according to a new Citizens Budget Commission study. New York has been traditionally liberal — meaning, in practice, that it has been dominated by rapacious pressure groups, each seeking to live off the taxpayer. It illustrates Frédéric Bastiat’s description of government as the system through which everyone attempts to live at the expense of everyone else. Even if your self-respect prevents you from being part of the greedy...

The Law by Frederic Bastiat The Law for PalmPilot(tm) Requires Free AportisDoc(tm) Reader Contents: The Book and Author The Translation The Law Life Is a Gift from God What Is Law ? A Just and Enduring Government The Complete Perversion of the Law A Fatal Tendency of Mankind Property and Plunder Victims of Lawful Plunder The Results of Legal Plunder The Fate of Non-Conformists Who Shall Judge? The Reason Why Voting Is Restricted The Answer Is to Restrict the Law The Fatal Idea of Legal Plunder Perverted Law Causes Conflict Slavery and Tariffs Are Plunder Two Kinds of Plunder...