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Quote by Russ Roberts

“Capitalism involves struggle, but it has an invisible heart beating at its core that transforms people's lives.”

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Russ Roberts is an accomplished economist, born in September 1954. He has extensive research and teaching experience in economics, particularly known for his historical approach to economic issues. more

“In regard to the so-called social contract, I have often had occasion to protest that I haven't even seen the contract, much less been asked to consent to it. A valid contract requires voluntary offer, acceptance, and consideration. I've never received an offer from my rulers, so I certainly have not accepted one; and rather than consideration, I have received nothing but contempt from the rulers, who, notwithstanding the absence of any agreement, have indubitably threatened me with grave harm in the event that I fail to comply with their edicts.”

Social Failing Events Havens Acceptance Offers Regard Harm Absence Accepted Graves Occasions Consideration Protest Agreement Contracts Contempt Rulers Consent Threatened Social Contract

Author:Robert Higgs

“It is a sound interpretive rule...that anything that cannot be accomplished except with the aid of threats or the actual exercise of violence against unoffending persons cannot be beneficial to one and all.”

Persons Sound Violence Exercise Threat Aids Accomplished Beneficial

Author:Robert Higgs

“Voting, the be all and end all of modern democratic politicians, has become a farce, if indeed it was ever anything else. By voting, the people decide only which of the oligarchs preselected for them as viable candidates will wield the whip used to flog them and will command the legion of willing accomplices and anointed lickspittles who perpetrate the countless violations of the people's natural rights. Meanwhile, the masters soothe the masses by assuring them night and day that they - the plundered and bullied multitudes who compose the electorate - are themselves the government.”

“In U.S. history, war has served as an important diversionary tactic, causing the people at large to shift their attention away from the state's own criminality and toward real or fictitious devils abroad. Wars have therefore proved to be extremely useful in propping up the political class and preserving it from the public resistance and rebellion that might otherwise have arisen.”

People Important War Real States Might Political Attention Class Devil Resistance Rebellion Tactics Criminality

Author:Robert Higgs

“True counselors of despair are those who hope against hope—and historical experience—that the government can and will act constructively.”

Government Despair Historical Counselor

Author:Robert Higgs

“Nothing has done more to render modern economic theory a sterile and irrelevant exercise in autoeroticism than its practitioners’ obsession with mathematical, general-equilibrium models.”

Done Economic Modern Theory Exercise Models Obsession Mathematical Irrelevant Equilibrium Economic Theory

Author:Robert Higgs

Government Hours Four Twenties Endure

Book:Neither Liberty Nor Safety: Fear, Ideology, and the Growth of Government

Source: Neither Liberty Nor Safety: Fear, Ideology, and the Growth of Government

“The state is the most destructive institution human beings have ever devised - a fire that, at best, can be controlled for only a short time before it o'erleaps it's improvised confinements and spreads its flames far and wide.”

Humans States Human Beings Fire Institutions Spread Wide Flames Destructive Controlled Short Time Confinement

Author:Robert Higgs

“H. L. Mencken famously said that 'every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.' By now, however, I am no longer ashamed, because I do not identify with the government under which I live. Rather, I view it as a criminal organization that without provocation has chosen to make war on my just rights-not only mine, of course, but everyone's. Although this vile enterprise is my problem, because it robs and bullies me relentlessly and without mercy, it is not my responsibility: the nail is not the hammer.”

Source: Neither Liberty Nor Safety: Fear, Ideology, and the Growth of Government

“If anarchists are idealists, they may simply be likened to someone who finds himself swimming in a cesspool and, rather than paddling about looking for the area with the least amount of floating faeces, seeks to climb out of the pool completely.”

Ifs May Amount Areas Climbs Swimming Pool Floating Anarchist Idealist Paddling

Author:Robert Higgs

Quote by Russ Roberts

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