The suppression of unnecessary offices, of useless establishments and expenses, enabled us to discontinue our internal taxes. These covering our land with officers and opening our doors to their intrusions, had already begun that process of domiciliary vexation which once entered is scarcely to be restrained from reaching, successively, every article of property and produce. Thomas Jefferson
[On the evil of taxation and the problems to be expected](1743-1826)
Monthly Archives: November 2022
For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for the …
For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for the want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for the want of a horse the rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the enemy, all for the want of care about a horseshoe nail. Benjamin Franklin
1706-1790
There were in this country two very large monopolies. The larger of …
There were in this country two very large monopolies. The larger of the two had the following record: the Vietnam War, Watergate, double-digit inflation, fuel and energy shortages, bankrupt airlines, and the 8-cent postcard. The second was responsible for such things as the transistor, the solar cell, lasers, synthetic crystals, high fidelity stereo recording, sound motion pictures, radio astronomy, negative feedback, magnetic tape, magnetic ‘bubbles’, electronic switching systems, microwave radio and TV relay systems, information theory, the first electrical digital computer, and the first communications satellite. Guess which one got to tell the other how to run the telephone business? Unknown
Unknown
The fickleness of the women I love is only equaled by the …
The fickleness of the women I love is only equaled by the infernal consistency of the women who love me. George Bernard Shaw
A vote is not simply anything done by anyone handed a ballot. …
A vote is not simply anything done by anyone handed a ballot. A vote results only from the proper use of a ballot. George Will
November 14, 2000
There is no reasonable ground for interfering with the liberty of person …
There is no reasonable ground for interfering with the liberty of person or the right of free contract, by determining the hours of labor, in the occupation of a baker. There is no contention that bakers as a class are not equal in intelligence and capacity to men in other trades or manual occupations, or that they are not able to assert their rights and care for themselves without the protecting arm of the state, interfering with their independence of judgment and of action. They are in no sense wards of the state. US Supreme Court
Lochner v New York, 98 U.S. 45 (1905)
Spare me the grim workaholic or the pompous, pretentious professional. Colin Powell …
Spare me the grim workaholic or the pompous, pretentious professional. Colin Powell
reported in U.S. News & World Report January 29, 2001
The difference between a misfortune and a calamity? If Gladstone fell into …
The difference between a misfortune and a calamity? If Gladstone fell into the Thames, it would be a misfortune. But if someone dragged him out again, it would be a calamity. Benjamin Disraeli
British Prime Minister (1874-1880), author, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1804-1881
It is desired that Sons and Daughters of Liberty would not buy …
It is desired that Sons and Daughters of Liberty would not buy any one thing of him, for in so doing they will bring Disgrace upon themselves, and their posterity, for ever and ever, Amen.
Note regarding: ‘William Jackson, an importer; at the Brazen Head, North Side of the Town-house and opposite the Town-pump, in Corn-hill, Boston.’ c 1770.
For any individual, there are two ways to become wealthier. One is …
For any individual, there are two ways to become wealthier. One is to do something productive. The other is to redistribute existing resources in one’s own favor. If we all work, we create wealth, and society is better off. But if we all do nothing except try to get our hands into our neighbors’ pockets, we will all be very busy, yet we will all eventually starve.
Reason, May 1994