by Murray Rothbard
But why worry about the weakness of limits on governmental power? Especially in a “democracy,” in the phrase so often used by American liberals in their heyday before the mid-1960s when doubts began to creep into the liberal utopia: “Are we not the government?” In the phrase “we are the government,” the useful collective term “we” has enabled an ideological camouflage to be thrown over the naked exploitative reality of political life. For if we truly are the government, then anything a government does to an individual is not only just and not tyrannical; it is also “voluntary” on the part of the individual concerned. If the government has incurred a huge public debt which must be paid by taxing one group on behalf of another, this reality of burden is conve niently obscured by blithely saying that “we owe it to ourselves” (but who are the “we” and who the “ourselves”?). If the government drafts a man, or even throws him into jail for dissident opinions, then he is only “doing it to himself” and therefore nothing improper has occurred. Under this reasoning, then, Jews murdered by the Nazi government were not murdered; they must have “committed suicide,” since they were the government (which was democratically chosen), and therefore anything the government did to them was only voluntary on their part. But there is no way out of such grotesqueries for those supporters of government who see the State merely as a benevolent and voluntary agent of the public.
And so we must conclude that “we” are not the government; the government is not “us.” The government does not in any accurate sense “represent” the majority of the people, but even if it did, even if 90% of the people decided to murder or enslave the, other 10%, this would still be murder and slavery, and would not be voluntary suicide or enslavement on the part of the oppressed minority. Crime is crime, aggression against rights is aggression, no matter how many citizens agree to the oppression. There is nothing sacrosanct about the majority; the lynch mob, too, is the majority in its own domain.
The entire book is available in PDF and MP3 formats from the Ludwig Von Mises Institute.
Friday, October 30, 2009
November Movie/Discussion Group Meeting!
November is here and we are excited to announce the next LBCCS meeting! We will be watching the final two episodes of the series "Liberty! The American Revolution." Last month's episodes ended with the glorious victory of the Americans at Saratoga and our next episode picks up with the British changing strategy and taking the war down south... bad idea.
Come and join us for a time of learning and positive discussion! We will also be providing snacks and coffee.
Please be sure and RSVP by Facebook or email so we can properly prepare for the group.
Date/Time:
Friday, November 13 at 7pm
Place:
The Historic Biery House
8 Race St
Catasauqua, PA 18032
Finding the Biery House:
The house is on the left almost immediately after crossing the Race St bridge (heading East) in Catasauqua. Click here for a map.
Any questions? Contact me, Ryan, at 484-553-0956. We hope to see you there!
Ryan Burgett
Chairman - L.B.C.C.S.
ryan_burgett@hotmail.com
Come and join us for a time of learning and positive discussion! We will also be providing snacks and coffee.
Please be sure and RSVP by Facebook or email so we can properly prepare for the group.
Date/Time:
Friday, November 13 at 7pm
Place:
The Historic Biery House
8 Race St
Catasauqua, PA 18032
Finding the Biery House:
The house is on the left almost immediately after crossing the Race St bridge (heading East) in Catasauqua. Click here for a map.
Any questions? Contact me, Ryan, at 484-553-0956. We hope to see you there!
Ryan Burgett
Chairman - L.B.C.C.S.
ryan_burgett@hotmail.com
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Excerpt from Thomas Jefferson's Second Inaugural Address
"During the contest of opinion through which we have passed the animation of discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely and to speak and to write what they think; but this being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the Constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good. All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things. And let us reflect that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions. During the throes and convulsions of the ancient world, during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking through blood and slaughter his long-lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the billows should reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that this should be more felt and feared by some and less by others, and should divide opinions as to measures of safety. But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it."
Monday, October 26, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
"You Might Be A Constitutionalist If..."
By Chuck Baldwin, Campaignforliberty.com.
1. You might be a Constitutionalist if you believe that every congressman, senator, President, and Supreme Court justice is required to obey the U.S. Constitution.
2. You might be a Constitutionalist if you believe that before the United States invades and occupies another country, Congress must first declare war.
3. You might be a Constitutionalist if you believe the federal government should live within its means, like everyone else is forced to do.
4. You might be a Constitutionalist if you think that taking away people's liberties in the name of security is not patriotic, nor does it make the country more secure.
5. You might be a Constitutionalist if you would like to see politicians be forced to abide by the same laws they make everyone else submit to.
6. You might be a Constitutionalist if you understand that we have three "separate but equal" branches of government that are supposed to hold each other in check and balance.
7. You might be a Constitutionalist if you believe that the federal government has no authority to be involved in education or law enforcement, or in any other issue that the Tenth Amendment reserves to the States, or to the People...
To see the entire list, click here.
1. You might be a Constitutionalist if you believe that every congressman, senator, President, and Supreme Court justice is required to obey the U.S. Constitution.
2. You might be a Constitutionalist if you believe that before the United States invades and occupies another country, Congress must first declare war.
3. You might be a Constitutionalist if you believe the federal government should live within its means, like everyone else is forced to do.
4. You might be a Constitutionalist if you think that taking away people's liberties in the name of security is not patriotic, nor does it make the country more secure.
5. You might be a Constitutionalist if you would like to see politicians be forced to abide by the same laws they make everyone else submit to.
6. You might be a Constitutionalist if you understand that we have three "separate but equal" branches of government that are supposed to hold each other in check and balance.
7. You might be a Constitutionalist if you believe that the federal government has no authority to be involved in education or law enforcement, or in any other issue that the Tenth Amendment reserves to the States, or to the People...
To see the entire list, click here.
350 Years of Economic Theory in 50 Minutes
The Ludwig Von Mises Institute is the world's foremost defender of proper economics, the Austrian School of thought. Throughout our nation's history, Progressives have taken the single concept of liberty and have broken it up into separate liberties, which then can be taken away one by one. It is an underhanded process, but has regardless been incredibly successful. You have a right to your own life, you have a free will and right to make your own choices (as long as they do not infringe upon the rights other persons), and you have a right to the fruits of your excercise of free will which is your property. A government attack on economics is a direct attack on your life and your liberty. Please watch this video and inform yourself, because the political-banking-industrial establishment has been lying to you.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
"Let Us Now Try Liberty!"
Excerpt from The Law, by Frédéric Bastiat, 1850.
God has given to men all that is necessary for them to accomplish their destinies. He has provided a social form as well as a human form. And these social organs of persons are so constituted that they will develop themselves harmoniously in the clean air of liberty. Away, then, with quacks and organizers! A way with their rings, chains, hooks, and pincers! Away with their artificial systems! Away with the whims of governmental administrators, their socialized projects, their centralization, their tariffs, their government schools, their state religions, their free credit, their bank monopolies, their regulations, their restrictions, their equalization by taxation, and their pious moralizations!
And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty; for liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works.
God has given to men all that is necessary for them to accomplish their destinies. He has provided a social form as well as a human form. And these social organs of persons are so constituted that they will develop themselves harmoniously in the clean air of liberty. Away, then, with quacks and organizers! A way with their rings, chains, hooks, and pincers! Away with their artificial systems! Away with the whims of governmental administrators, their socialized projects, their centralization, their tariffs, their government schools, their state religions, their free credit, their bank monopolies, their regulations, their restrictions, their equalization by taxation, and their pious moralizations!
And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty; for liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
"Alliances as Transmission Belts of War"
by Doug Bandow, Campaignforliberty.com.
It’s been a year since Georgia and Russia went to war. Both sides deserved more than a little blame. But the U.S. and most European governments lined up behind Tbilisi. They now have been embarrassed by the release of a report from the European Union blaming Georgia for firing the first shot. That is, the West backed the aggressor in an unnecessary war. The episode should serve as a caution before Washington again ties American security to alliances, which are as likely to serve as transmission belts of war as firebreaks to war.
The U.S. once avoided making permanent alliances. The American colonies accepted French support to win their independence, but the infant nation backed away from Paris when the latter was convulsed by revolutionary terror and Napoleonic dictatorship a few years later.
On leaving office George Washington advised his fellow citizens in his famous Farewell Address: "The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible"...
To read the entire article, click here.
It’s been a year since Georgia and Russia went to war. Both sides deserved more than a little blame. But the U.S. and most European governments lined up behind Tbilisi. They now have been embarrassed by the release of a report from the European Union blaming Georgia for firing the first shot. That is, the West backed the aggressor in an unnecessary war. The episode should serve as a caution before Washington again ties American security to alliances, which are as likely to serve as transmission belts of war as firebreaks to war.
The U.S. once avoided making permanent alliances. The American colonies accepted French support to win their independence, but the infant nation backed away from Paris when the latter was convulsed by revolutionary terror and Napoleonic dictatorship a few years later.
On leaving office George Washington advised his fellow citizens in his famous Farewell Address: "The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible"...
To read the entire article, click here.
"Abolish the Federal Department of Education!"
by Jake Towne.
Last night with the Liberty Bell Center of Constitutional Studies, I was part of a panel answering questions on public education with the Concerned Citizens of Bethlehem Area School District. The BASD has been plagued with financial troubles stemming from OTC derivatives purchases, and previously I gave an educational presentation to this group on financial derivatives.
After the lecture from LBCCS founder Paul Fiske who related how our founding fathers viewed education, Ryan Burgett, chairman of LBCCS and I (as a member of LBCCS) took questions and there was one question I was unable to answer without a projector, which was the breakdown of spending by the federal Department of Education, which is below. I also gave a short synopsis of the history and issues I have with this Department.
For the first 177 years in American history, there was no federal Department of Education, which was reserved to the states and localities to handle as they saw fit. This was also in agreement with the Constitution of the United States, which does not provide any justification whatsoever for federal power over education; in fact, the 9th and 10th Amendments make such action both unconstitutional and illegal...
To read the entire article, click here.
Last night with the Liberty Bell Center of Constitutional Studies, I was part of a panel answering questions on public education with the Concerned Citizens of Bethlehem Area School District. The BASD has been plagued with financial troubles stemming from OTC derivatives purchases, and previously I gave an educational presentation to this group on financial derivatives.
After the lecture from LBCCS founder Paul Fiske who related how our founding fathers viewed education, Ryan Burgett, chairman of LBCCS and I (as a member of LBCCS) took questions and there was one question I was unable to answer without a projector, which was the breakdown of spending by the federal Department of Education, which is below. I also gave a short synopsis of the history and issues I have with this Department.
For the first 177 years in American history, there was no federal Department of Education, which was reserved to the states and localities to handle as they saw fit. This was also in agreement with the Constitution of the United States, which does not provide any justification whatsoever for federal power over education; in fact, the 9th and 10th Amendments make such action both unconstitutional and illegal...
To read the entire article, click here.
The Founding Father On Education
You might be surprised to know how much our founding fathers had to say on the topic of public education. They were strong believers in public education through both public schools and libraries. At LBCCS we went through all we could find that our founding fathers said on the subject and were very easily able to narrow them down into nine points. Here are the nine points and the quotes to back them up.
1. Public education is essential for the preservation of liberty.
“A native of America who cannot read and write is as rare... as a comet or an earthquake. It has been observed that we are all of us lawyers, divines, politicians, and philosophers... Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people... They have a right, and indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge—I mean, of the characters and conducts of their rulers.” John Adams, 1765
“Say... whether peace is best preserved by giving energy to the government, or information to the people. This last is the most certain and the most legitimate engine of government. Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. Enable them to see that it is their interest to preserve peace and order, and they will preserve them. And it required no very high degree of education to convince them of this. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.” Thomas Jefferson, 1787
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” Thomas Jefferson, 1787
2.Education improves the human condition.
“The good education of youth has been esteemed by wise men in all ages as the surest foundation of the happiness both of private families and of commonwealths. Almost all governments have therefore made it a principal object of their attention, to establish and endow with proper revenues, such seminaries of learning as might supply the succeeding age with men qualified to serve the public with honor to themselves, and to their country.” Benjamin Franklin, 1749
“The idea of what is true merit should also be often presented to youth, explained and impressed on their minds, as consisting in an inclination joined with an ability to serve mankind, one's country, friends and family; which ability is (with the blessing of God) to be acquired or greatly increased by true learning; and should indeed be the great aim and end of all learning.” Benjamin Franklin, 1749
[referencing general public education] “No other sure foundation can be devised for the preservation of freedom and happiness.” Thomas Jefferson, 1786
“Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day. Although I do not, with some enthusiasts, believe that the human condition will ever advance to such a state of perfection as that there shall no longer be pain or vice in the world, yet I believe it susceptible of much improvement, and most of all in matters of government and religion; and that the diffusion of knowledge among the people is to be the instrument by which it is to be effected.” Thomas Jefferson, 1816
“I look to the diffusion of light and education as the resource most to be relied on for ameliorating the condition, promoting the virtue, and advancing the happiness of man.” Thomas Jefferson, 1822
3.Public education is vital to a Republic.
“Educations generally [is] one of the surest means of enlightening and giving just ways of thinking to our citizens.” George Washington, 1796
“Promote... as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.” George Washington, 1796
“A primary object... should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty more pressing on its legislature than to patronize a plan for communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?” George Washington, 1796
“Education is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power.” Thomas Jefferson, 1820
4.Parents have final say.
“It is better to tolerate the rare instance of a parent refusing to let his child be educated than to shock the common feelings and ideas by the forcible asportation and education of the infant against the will of the father.” Thomas Jefferson, 1817
5.Public schools should not replace private schools.
“It [should not] be proposed to take [the] ordinary branches [of education] out of the hands of private enterprise, which manages so much better all the concerns to which it is equal.” Thomas Jefferson, 1806
6.Public education should include reading, writing, arithmetic, history, fine arts, virtue/morality/religion and government studies.
“I think also that general virtue is more probably expected and obtained from the education of youth than from the exhortation of adult persons; bad habits and vices of the mind being, like diseases of the body, more easily prevented than cured.” Benjamin Franklin, 1750
“In the first will be taught reading, writing, common arithmetic, and general notions of geography. In the second, ancient and modern languages, geography fully, a higher degree of numerical arithmetic, mensuration, and the elementary principles of navigation. In the third, all the useful sciences in their highest degree. To all of which is added a selection from the elementary schools of subjects of the most promising genius, whose parents are too poor to give them further education, to be carried at the public expense through the colleges and university.” Thomas Jefferson, 1817
7.Public school management and funding should come from the county level.
“The expense of the elementary schools for every county is proposed to be levied on the wealth of the county, and all children rich and poor to be educated at these three years gratis.” Thomas Jefferson, 1817
8.Public taxes are a legitimate means of funding public schools.
“Let our countrymen know that the people alone can protect us against these evils [of misgovernment], and that the tax which will be paid for this purpose is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests, and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance.” Thomas Jefferson, 1786
“Laws will be wisely formed and administered in proportion as those who form and administer them are wise and honest; whence it becomes expedient for promoting the public happiness that those persons whom nature hath endowed with genius and virtue should be rendered by liberal education worth to receive, and able to guard, the sacred deposit of the rights and liberties of their fellow citizens; and that they should be called to that charge without regard to wealth, birth, or other accidental condition of circumstance; but the indigence of the greater number disabling them from so educating, at their own expense, those of their children whom nature hath fitly formed and siposed to become useful instruments for the public, it is better that such should be sought for and educated at the common expense of all than that the happiness of all should be confined to the weak or wicked.” Thomas Jefferson, 1790
“If the legislature would add to the literary fund a perpetual tax of a cent a head on the population of the state, it would set agoing at once, and forever maintain, a system of primary or ward schools, and a university where might be taught, in it highest degree, every branch of science useful in our time and country...” Thomas Jefferson, 1816
9.Public schools are not mentioned in the US Constitution and are therefore not a responsibility of the federal government.
Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution lists the 18 specific powers of Congress. Public education is not on that list.
The 10th Amendment clearly states that any responsibility not specifically given to the Federal government in the Constitution is left to the state and local governments.
1. Public education is essential for the preservation of liberty.
“A native of America who cannot read and write is as rare... as a comet or an earthquake. It has been observed that we are all of us lawyers, divines, politicians, and philosophers... Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people... They have a right, and indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge—I mean, of the characters and conducts of their rulers.” John Adams, 1765
“Say... whether peace is best preserved by giving energy to the government, or information to the people. This last is the most certain and the most legitimate engine of government. Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. Enable them to see that it is their interest to preserve peace and order, and they will preserve them. And it required no very high degree of education to convince them of this. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.” Thomas Jefferson, 1787
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” Thomas Jefferson, 1787
2.Education improves the human condition.
“The good education of youth has been esteemed by wise men in all ages as the surest foundation of the happiness both of private families and of commonwealths. Almost all governments have therefore made it a principal object of their attention, to establish and endow with proper revenues, such seminaries of learning as might supply the succeeding age with men qualified to serve the public with honor to themselves, and to their country.” Benjamin Franklin, 1749
“The idea of what is true merit should also be often presented to youth, explained and impressed on their minds, as consisting in an inclination joined with an ability to serve mankind, one's country, friends and family; which ability is (with the blessing of God) to be acquired or greatly increased by true learning; and should indeed be the great aim and end of all learning.” Benjamin Franklin, 1749
[referencing general public education] “No other sure foundation can be devised for the preservation of freedom and happiness.” Thomas Jefferson, 1786
“Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day. Although I do not, with some enthusiasts, believe that the human condition will ever advance to such a state of perfection as that there shall no longer be pain or vice in the world, yet I believe it susceptible of much improvement, and most of all in matters of government and religion; and that the diffusion of knowledge among the people is to be the instrument by which it is to be effected.” Thomas Jefferson, 1816
“I look to the diffusion of light and education as the resource most to be relied on for ameliorating the condition, promoting the virtue, and advancing the happiness of man.” Thomas Jefferson, 1822
3.Public education is vital to a Republic.
“Educations generally [is] one of the surest means of enlightening and giving just ways of thinking to our citizens.” George Washington, 1796
“Promote... as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.” George Washington, 1796
“A primary object... should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty more pressing on its legislature than to patronize a plan for communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?” George Washington, 1796
“Education is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power.” Thomas Jefferson, 1820
4.Parents have final say.
“It is better to tolerate the rare instance of a parent refusing to let his child be educated than to shock the common feelings and ideas by the forcible asportation and education of the infant against the will of the father.” Thomas Jefferson, 1817
5.Public schools should not replace private schools.
“It [should not] be proposed to take [the] ordinary branches [of education] out of the hands of private enterprise, which manages so much better all the concerns to which it is equal.” Thomas Jefferson, 1806
6.Public education should include reading, writing, arithmetic, history, fine arts, virtue/morality/religion and government studies.
“I think also that general virtue is more probably expected and obtained from the education of youth than from the exhortation of adult persons; bad habits and vices of the mind being, like diseases of the body, more easily prevented than cured.” Benjamin Franklin, 1750
“In the first will be taught reading, writing, common arithmetic, and general notions of geography. In the second, ancient and modern languages, geography fully, a higher degree of numerical arithmetic, mensuration, and the elementary principles of navigation. In the third, all the useful sciences in their highest degree. To all of which is added a selection from the elementary schools of subjects of the most promising genius, whose parents are too poor to give them further education, to be carried at the public expense through the colleges and university.” Thomas Jefferson, 1817
7.Public school management and funding should come from the county level.
“The expense of the elementary schools for every county is proposed to be levied on the wealth of the county, and all children rich and poor to be educated at these three years gratis.” Thomas Jefferson, 1817
8.Public taxes are a legitimate means of funding public schools.
“Let our countrymen know that the people alone can protect us against these evils [of misgovernment], and that the tax which will be paid for this purpose is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests, and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance.” Thomas Jefferson, 1786
“Laws will be wisely formed and administered in proportion as those who form and administer them are wise and honest; whence it becomes expedient for promoting the public happiness that those persons whom nature hath endowed with genius and virtue should be rendered by liberal education worth to receive, and able to guard, the sacred deposit of the rights and liberties of their fellow citizens; and that they should be called to that charge without regard to wealth, birth, or other accidental condition of circumstance; but the indigence of the greater number disabling them from so educating, at their own expense, those of their children whom nature hath fitly formed and siposed to become useful instruments for the public, it is better that such should be sought for and educated at the common expense of all than that the happiness of all should be confined to the weak or wicked.” Thomas Jefferson, 1790
“If the legislature would add to the literary fund a perpetual tax of a cent a head on the population of the state, it would set agoing at once, and forever maintain, a system of primary or ward schools, and a university where might be taught, in it highest degree, every branch of science useful in our time and country...” Thomas Jefferson, 1816
9.Public schools are not mentioned in the US Constitution and are therefore not a responsibility of the federal government.
Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution lists the 18 specific powers of Congress. Public education is not on that list.
The 10th Amendment clearly states that any responsibility not specifically given to the Federal government in the Constitution is left to the state and local governments.
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