“Moral decay first hampers and then strangles honest government, regular commerce, and even the ability to take genuine pleasure in the goods of this world. Compulsion is applied from above as self-discipline relaxes below, and the last liberties expire under the weight of a unitary state.... Since religion has lost its empire over the souls of men, the most prominent boundary that divided good from evil is overthrown; kings and nations are guided by chance and none can say where are the natural limits of despotism and the bound of license.” MenWorldFirstsSoulSelfStatesGovernmentLastsEvilLostNationsNaturalChanceAbilityPleasureLibertyMoralHonestThis WorldKingsDisciplineLimitsWeightBoundsCorruptionBoundariesGenuineRelaxEmpiresGoodsDividedDecayCommerceSelf DisciplineLicenseCompulsionDespotismProminentHamperMoral DecayHonest Government Author:Russell Kirk
“Globally, as the nation-state becomes increasingly less meaningful - a provider of positive goods and more and more just an army and some domestic enforcement - people are withdrawing to shape and support more localised forms of organisation and power. To the extent that it's part of that civilised and localising world, the same is true of the U.S.” PeopleWorldStatesFormNationsSupportShapesArmyMeaningfulGoodsEnforcementOrganisationProvidersCivilisedWithdrawing Author:Rebecca Solnit
“Historically, large-scale global trade has served two functions: 1) the exchange of goods between willing sellers and buyers described in Econ 101 textbooks; 2) as a tool of state aggrandizement, in which the private parties are stand-ins for governmental interests.” TwoStatesInterestPartyWillingToolsFunctionTradeScalesGoodsTextbooksSellersBuyersLarge ScalePrivate Parts Author:Charles C. Mann
“Based on first-hand evidence of your own senses - the improved health and later ages at which acquaintances die nowadays as compared with the past; the material goods that we now possess; the speed at which information, entertainment, and we ourselves move freely throughout the world - it seems to me that a person must be literally deaf and blind not to perceive that humanity is in a much better state than ever before.” WorldFirstsPersonsStatesHandsSeemsAgePastMovingHumanityDiesInformationMaterialsEvidenceBlindEntertainmentSpeedSensesPerceiveGoodsDeafAcquaintanceDeaf And Blind Author:Julian Simon
“Owners of capital will stimulate working class to buy more and more of expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks which will have to be nationalized and State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism.” StatesHouseClassTechnologyCreditDebtCommunismExpensiveOwnersPushingGoodsWorking ClassUnbearableBankruptcy Author:Karl Marx
“The fundamental fact in the lives of the poor in most parts of America is that the wages of common labor are far below the benefits of AFDC, Medicaid, food stamps, public housing, public defenders, leisure time and all the other goods and services of the welfare state.” StatesFactsAmericaPoorCommonBenefitsLaborFundamentalsWelfareGoodsLeisureWagesStampsHousingDefendersWelfare StateGoods And ServicesLeisure TimeFood StampsMedicaidPublic Housing Author:George Gilder