Alexis de Tocqueville on the features of despotism

I seek to trace the novel features under which despotism may appear in the world.  The first thing that strikes the eye is an innumerable multitude of men, all equal and alike...  Above this race of men stands an immense and tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratifications and watch over their fate.  That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild.  It would be like the authority of a parent if, like that authority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks, on the contrary, to keep them in perpetual childhood: it is well content that the people whould rejoice, provided that they think of nothing but rejoicing.  For their happiness such a government willingly labors, but it chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter of that happiness; it provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal concerns, directs their industry... what remains, but to spare them all the care of thinking and the trouble of living?

~ Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Volume 2

Kevin Duffy on why fear mongering over the coronavirus persists

I don’t believe this is about deliberate impoverishment which starts to sound like some Dr. Evil conspiracy for world domination. After all, the political establishment doesn’t want to kill the golden goose that feeds it. The election has something to do with it, no doubt. I also think these people see the world through the lens of chaos, with smart people in control (like them) to prevent the planet from spinning apart. The coronavirus is just too perfect: to them the solution is to control it and the people. Allowing the bug to run its course and giving people the freedom to act as individuals never crossed their mind. 

This also has to do with crisis and leviathan. Fear is a powerful motivator to give up freedom for security; the promoters of big government see this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to push the agenda. They’re like a pit bull with a rag doll, not about to let it go easily just because of a few benign statistics… least not when the masses are dutifully cowering in fear and masking.

~ Kevin Duffy, September 18, 2020

Kevin Duffy on the two choices to deal with the coronavirus

1 in 295,000 people under the age of 35 have died of Covid-19. Why should their lives be put on hold for such a minuscule risk?

The correct plan should've been targeted isolation for those most at risk and normal lives for the rest, minimizing the economic damage AND the risk of infection to the high-risk group as the low-risk group gained herd immunity. Of course this plan takes into account the unique situation of every individual and is compatible with a free society.

Instead, the plan we got crammed down our throats by the authorities and egged on by the fearmongering media was universal isolation, one-size fits all. Sadly, most people accepted this because they were scared out of their wits and chose security over liberty. 

~ Kevin Duffy, Facebook post, May 24, 2020

Thaddeus Russell on the difference between the shutdowners and the reopeners

All I can say is, for people who want the lockdown to continue, is that these are the people who value security over freedom.  That's it.  That's one of the main dividers between people.  There are people... who primarily value security, safety, you could say a static life.  They don't want time to move.  They don't want change necessarily.  And those of us who value dynamism and change and liberty and individualism and all that.  And individual creativity.  And that's the divide.

~ Thaddeus Russell, "Why Does the Left Favor Lockdowns?," The Tom Woods Show, May 19, 2020

Ed Bugos on the difference between the interventionist and laissez faire positions

One big difference between our perspective and the one you hear from mainstream is that they presume the central bank and government exist to save you from unbridled capitalism and the negative effects of freedom while we see them as bad actors/tools used to exploit and control you, and which produce all the negative effects that you blame on freedom.

~ Ed Bugos, LinkedIn post, March 27, 2020

Gary Barnett on the coronavirus panic and loss of liberty

If the people allow a takeover of their lives due to this panic, they will not only have lost their liberty and all they own, they will have also lost their sanity.

~ Gary D. Barnett, "Panic Will End But Tyranny Will Not," LewRockwell.com, March 14, 2020

Sheldon Richman on the portrayal of World War II as "not such a bad thing after all"

There is a simple reason for all the effort that goes into portraying World War II as “not such a bad thing after all.” The state ultimately cements its hold over society by promising to repel the barbarians who always seem to be about to storm the gates of civilization. And if we believe this, we will eagerly surrender liberty and treasure to the state’s officers in return for safety. And in case we wonder if the barbarians really are plotting to storm the gates, the state can point to recent episodes when indeed they did, and when the state protected us from them. Thus, the function of the “World War II as the last good war” line is to keep the people from asking uncomfortable questions about the legitimacy of Leviathan.

~ Sheldon Richman, "The Consequences of World War II," November 1, 1991

Bombing of Tokyo

Jacob Hornberger: Americans are "scared to death that everyone is coming to get them"

One of the ironies in all this is that while Americans live under the most powerful military in history, as Trump pointed out, the American people are the most frightened people in the world. They are scared to death that everyone is coming to get them — the Muslims, terrorists, communists, illegal immigrants, and drug dealers — and that it’s only the national-security establishment that is preventing this from taking place. Americans have traded their liberty for “security,” have ended up with neither, and, worst of all, don’t even realize what they have done.

Trump wants to make America great again. His mistake is in believing that he can accomplish that by making the national-security part of the federal government even more powerful than it already is. A powerful government inevitably results in a frightened citizenry and a weak nation. The way to make America great again is by making the American people free and independent, which necessarily entails a restoration of a limited-government republic, one that reflects America’s founding antipathy toward a military nation.

~ Jacob Hornberger, "Trump Reminds Us That America is a Military Nation," The Future of Freedom Foundation blog, July 5, 2019

Benjamin Franklin on trading liberty for security

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

~ Benjamin Franklin

America
1922-1925

Edward R. Murrow on government

A Nation of Sheep will beget a Government of Wolves. 

~ Edward R. Murrow, pioneer of television news broadcasting

H.L. Mencken on liberty, security, and the police state

What the common man longs for in this world, before and above all his other longings, is the simplest and most ignominious sort of peace: the peace of a trusty in a well-managed penitentiary. He is willing to sacrifice everything else to it. He puts it above his dignity and he puts it above his pride. Above all, he puts it above his liberty. The fact, perhaps, explains his veneration for policemen, in all the forms they take--his belief that there is a mysterious sanctity in law, however absurd it may be in fact.

A policeman is a charlatan who offers, in return for obedience, to protect him (a) from his superiors, (b) from his equals, and (c) from himself. This last service, under democracy, is commonly the most esteemed of them all. In the United States, at least theoretically, it is the only thing that keeps ice-wagon drivers, Y.M.C.A. secretaries, insurance collectors and other such human camels from smoking opium, ruining themselves in the night clubs, and going to Palm Beach with Follies girls...Here, though the common man is deceived, he starts from a sound premise: to wit, that liberty is something too hot for his hands---or, as Nietzsche put it, too cold for his spine.

~ H.L. Mencken, Notes on Democracy (1920)

Franklin on liberty vs. security

Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.

~ Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin
1954-1968

Jefferson on security vs. freedom

A nation that limits freedom in the name of security will have neither.

~ Thomas Jefferson, 3rd U.S. president