Kevin Duffy on the nature of government, democracy and lying politicians

• Government is a heavily armed gang that terrorizes the people.
• Democracy is a scam to convince people otherwise.
• Politicians don't lie. Voters lie to themselves & politicians tell them what they want to hear.
• Voting shows tacit approval of the gang.

~ Kevin Duffy, tweet, May 21, 2024

Hans-Hermann Hoppe on the state

The state is an institution run by gangs of murderers, plunderers and thieves, surrounded by willing executioners, propagandists, sychophants, crooks, liars, clowns, charlatans, dupes and useful idiots - an institution that dirties and taints everything it touches.

~ Hans-Hermann Hoppe

H.L. Mencken on government

[Government’s] great contribution to human wisdom... is the discovery that the taxpayer has more than one pocket.

~ H.L. Mencken

Charles de Gaulle on the state's trickery

In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant.

~ Charles de Gaulle

Franz Oppenheimer on government

[T]he State, as a class-state, can have originated in no other way than through conquest and subjugation.

~ Franz Oppenheimer, The State

Milton Friedman on government programs

Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.

~ Milton Friedman

Frank Herbert on government

Governments, if they endure, always tend increasingly toward aristocratic forms.  No government in history has been known to evade this pattern.  And as the aristocracy develops, government tends more and more to act exclusively in the interests of the ruling class - whether that class be hereditary royalty, oligarchs of financial empires, or entrenched bureaucracy.

~ Frank Herbert, Children of Dune, p. 198

CatoTheYounger on politics and psychopaths

If your political economic system depends on virtuous leaders, you are doomed.  The absolute worst psychopaths are attracted to Politics/Gov, as a medium to practice and refine their skills.  A Psychopaths' skill set allows them to excel in politics.

~ CatoTheYounger @catoletters, tweet, September 9, 2021

Doug Casey on how government uses fear

Fear is one of the most powerful and primal emotions, and government has always used fear to unite the people behind it.  Government—which produces nothing—only exists because of fear.  Fear of foreigners is allayed by its army.  Fear of domestic chaos is allayed by its police.

~ Doug Casey, "Doug Casey on the Real Reason Why the Mainstream Media is Dialing Up the Fear," Doug Casey's International Man, September 8, 2021

Voltaire on government

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.

~ Voltaire (1764)

George Bernard Shaw on welfare

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

~ George Bernard Shaw

Curt Howland on government and the lust to dominate

There have always been, are, and always will be, people who suffer from the mental illness known as Libido Dominandi, the “lust to dominate.”  Psychopaths who will do anything, say anything, to get what they want. Such people gravitate to government because it is through the state that their domination is given the illusion of legitimacy, where they can hit people and take their stuff all day long, and get away with it. 

Psychopaths in government have had six thousand years of hitting people and taking their stuff to come up with a raft of excuses and rationalizations to justify their Libido Dominandi.  The best minds have been hired to write histories which glorify those in government, celebrate their mass murder, rationalize their predation, and to then teach it to children so when those children grow up they will continue to obey.

~ Curt Howland, "Why is libertarian philosophy unpopular?," Quora, June 15, 2021

Hans-Hermann Hoppe on government

The State is nothing but a criminal organization.

~ Hans-Hermann Hoppe

Murray Rothbard on how the libertarian sees government

Instead of a bumbling and inefficient tool of society, the radical [libertarian] sees the State itself, in its very nature, as coercive, exploitative, parasitic, and hence profoundly antisocial. The State is, and always has been, the great single enemy of the human race, its liberty, happiness, and progress. 

~ Murray Rothbard, Reason, March, 1974

Kevin Duffy on how government creates problems

Government germinates, nurtures and harvests problems.  They are the sustenance of the state.

~ Kevin Duffy, tweet, May 31, 2021

Tom DiLorenzo on the reason for government

The purpose of government is for those who run it to plunder those who do not.

~ Tom DiLorenzo

Barbara Tuchman on the pursuit of policies contrary to self interest

A phenomenon noticeable throughout history regardless of place or period is the pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interests. 

~ Barbara W. Tuchman, The March of Folly

Murray Rothbard: "Who wants good people in government?"

Who wants good people in government?  Good people should be in the private sector, helping us out.  We want schmoes in government.  We want people who can't find the doorknob.  Why waste productive people, as well as looting the taxpayer?

~ Murray Rothbard

(Today marks Rothbard's birthday: March 2, 1926 - January 7, 1995.)

Edmund Morgan on the nature of government

Government requires make-believe.  Make believe that the king is divine, make believe that he can do no wrong or make believe that the voice of the people is the voice of God.  Make believe that the people have a voice or make believe that the representatives of the people are the people.  Make believe that governors are the servants of the people.  Make believe that all men are equal or make believe that they are not. 

~ Edmund S. Morgan, American historian (1916-2013)

Thomas Jefferson on the contradiction of paternalistic government

Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself.  Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others?

~ Thomas Jefferson