There is not perhaps in human affairs anything so unaccountable as the indignity and cruelty with which the far greater part of mankind suffer themselves to be used under pretence of government. For some men falsely persuading themselves that bad governments are advantageous to them, as most conducing to gratify their ambition, avarice, and luxury, set themselves with the utmost art and violence to procure their establishment: and by such men almost the whole world has been trampled underfoot, and subjected to tyranny, for want of understanding by what means and methods they were enslaved. For though mankind take great care and pains to instruct themselves in other arts and sciences, yet very few apply themselves to consider the nature of government, an enquiry so useful and necessary both to magistrate and people. Nay, in most countries the arts of state being altogether directed either to enslave the people, or to keep them under slavery; it is become almost everywhere a crime to reason about matters of government. But if men would bestow a small part of the time and application which they throw away upon curious but useless studies, or endless gaming, in perusing those excellent rules and examples of government which the ancients have left us, they would soon be enabled to discover all such abuses and corruptions as tend to the ruin of public societies. It is therefore very strange that they should think study and knowledge necessary in everything they go about, except in the noblest and most useful of all applications, the art of government.
–Andrew Fletcher, A Discourse of Government With Relation to Militias [1698]
HORNBERGER'S BLOG
August 14, 2024 Immigration Inanity
Immigration ranks among the top three domestic issues in the U.S. presidential race. Republicans accuse Democrat presidential candidate Angela Harris of having failed to "secure" the border in her supposed role as Border Czar. Democrats respond by saying that Harris was never appointed Border Czar and that she and her Democrat cohorts are as determined to "secure" the border as Trump and his ...
Fiscal Insanity by Laurence M. Vance
Created in 1973, the Republican Study Committee (RSC) serves as the conservative caucus of House Republicans. Its purpose is “to bring like-minded House members ...
Buy a Bible, Become a Terror Suspect by James Bovard
Americans are familiar with the Miranda warning that anything that arrestees say can be used against them in a court of law. But the ...
Republicans Can't Make Up Their Mind on Education by Laurence M. Vance
The new Republican Party platform was adopted at the Republican National Convention last month in Milwaukee, their first platform in eight ...
Price-Gouging Laws and the Google "Monopoly"
by Jacob Hornberger and Richard M. Ebeling
In this week’s Libertarian Angle, Jacob and Richard discuss the effects of price-gouging laws during hurricanes and the implementations of...
Online Conference: The Case for Open Borders Monday, September 30, 2024
World Wide Web
Speakers: Richard Ebeling, Jeffrey Tucker, Bryan Caplan, Donald Boudreaux, John Washington, Benjamin Powell, and Jacob Hornberger
Politics Has Become Our National Religion
