It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.
Libertarian
boosted
Frederic Bastiat, a French economist and member of the French National Assembly, lived from 1801 to 1850. He had great admiration for our country, except for our two faults â slavery and tariffs. He said: âLook at the United States. There is no country in the world where the law is kept more within its proper domain: the protection of every personâs liberty and property.â If Bastiat were alive today, he would not have that same level of admiration. The U.S. has become what he fought against for most of his short life.
Bastiat observed that âwhen plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.â
You might ask, âWhat did Bastiat mean by âplunderâ?â Plunder is when someone forcibly takes the property of another. Thatâs private plunder. What he truly railed against was legalized plunder, and he told us how to identify it. He said: âSee if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.â
That could describe todayâs American laws. We enthusiastically demand that the U.S. Congress forcibly use one American to serve the purposes of another American. You say: âWilliams, thatâs insulting. Itâs no less than saying that we Americans support a form of slavery!â What then should we call it when two-thirds to three-quarters of a $4 trillion-plus federal budget can be described as Congress taking the property of one American and giving it to another to whom it does not belong? Where do you think Congress gets the billions upon billions of dollars for business and farmer handouts? What about the billions handed out for Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, housing allowances and thousands of other handouts? Thereâs no Santa Claus or tooth fairy giving Congress the money, and members of Congress are not spending their own money. The only way Congress can give one American $1 is to first take it from another American.
What if I privately took the property of one American to give to another American to help him out? Iâm guessing and hoping youâd call it theft and seek to jail me. When Congress does the same thing, itâs still theft. The only difference is that itâs legalized theft. However, legality alone does not establish morality. Slavery was legal; was it moral? Nazi, Stalinist and Maoist purges were legal, but were they moral?
Some argue that Congress gets its authority to bypass its enumerated powers from the general welfare clause. There are a host of proofs that the Framers had no such intention.
James Madison, the âFather of the Constitution,â wrote, âIf Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the general welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one.â Thomas Jefferson wrote, âOur tenet ever was ⦠that Congress had not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but were restrained to those specifically enumerated.â Rep. William Drayton of South Carolina asked in 1828, âIf Congress can determine what constitutes the general welfare and can appropriate money for its advancement, where is the limitation to carrying into execution whatever can be effected by money?â
What about our nationâs future? Alexis de Tocqueville is said to have predicted, âThe American republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the publicâs money.â
We long ago began ignoring Bastiatâs warning when the federal government was just a tiny fraction of gross domestic product â 3 percent, as opposed to todayâs 20 percent: âIf you donât take care, what begins by being an exception tends to become general, to multiply itself, and to develop into a veritable system.â
Moral Americans are increasingly confronted with Bastiatâs dilemma: âWhen law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law.â
Libertarian
boosted
Also friggin hilarious!
Libertarian
boosted
Libertarian
boosted
Defending the government just gets tougher everyday.
Defending the government just gets tougher everyday.
The US feels like it is committing suicide.
The elites control Wall Street, Hollywood, the media, and the government.
Globalists wanting to destroy the USA with wars, welfare, debt, illegal immigrants, and tyranny is one thing, but Americans who just accept this are another.
What if every conversation, book, movie, news story, bumper sticker, website, and song was about the collapse?
Would Americans wake up, protest, prepare, buy guns and gold, and resist or would Americans just become jaded and do nothing?
Is surrender the answer to tyranny?
Does anyone get the feeling that Americans will be wearing Mao suits and giving Nazi salutes soon?
Frederic Bastiat, a French economist and member of the French National Assembly, lived from 1801 to 1850. He had great admiration for our country, except for our two faults â slavery and tariffs. He said: âLook at the United States. There is no country in the world where the law is kept more within its proper domain: the protection of every personâs liberty and property.â If Bastiat were alive today, he would not have that same level of admiration. The U.S. has become what he fought against for most of his short life.
Bastiat observed that âwhen plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.â
You might ask, âWhat did Bastiat mean by âplunderâ?â Plunder is when someone forcibly takes the property of another. Thatâs private plunder. What he truly railed against was legalized plunder, and he told us how to identify it. He said: âSee if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.â
That could describe todayâs American laws. We enthusiastically demand that the U.S. Congress forcibly use one American to serve the purposes of another American. You say: âWilliams, thatâs insulting. Itâs no less than saying that we Americans support a form of slavery!â What then should we call it when two-thirds to three-quarters of a $4 trillion-plus federal budget can be described as Congress taking the property of one American and giving it to another to whom it does not belong? Where do you think Congress gets the billions upon billions of dollars for business and farmer handouts? What about the billions handed out for Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, housing allowances and thousands of other handouts? Thereâs no Santa Claus or tooth fairy giving Congress the money, and members of Congress are not spending their own money. The only way Congress can give one American $1 is to first take it from another American.
What if I privately took the property of one American to give to another American to help him out? Iâm guessing and hoping youâd call it theft and seek to jail me. When Congress does the same thing, itâs still theft. The only difference is that itâs legalized theft. However, legality alone does not establish morality. Slavery was legal; was it moral? Nazi, Stalinist and Maoist purges were legal, but were they moral?
Some argue that Congress gets its authority to bypass its enumerated powers from the general welfare clause. There are a host of proofs that the Framers had no such intention.
James Madison, the âFather of the Constitution,â wrote, âIf Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the general welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one.â Thomas Jefferson wrote, âOur tenet ever was ⦠that Congress had not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but were restrained to those specifically enumerated.â Rep. William Drayton of South Carolina asked in 1828, âIf Congress can determine what constitutes the general welfare and can appropriate money for its advancement, where is the limitation to carrying into execution whatever can be effected by money?â
What about our nationâs future? Alexis de Tocqueville is said to have predicted, âThe American republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the publicâs money.â
We long ago began ignoring Bastiatâs warning when the federal government was just a tiny fraction of gross domestic product â 3 percent, as opposed to todayâs 20 percent: âIf you donât take care, what begins by being an exception tends to become general, to multiply itself, and to develop into a veritable system.â
Moral Americans are increasingly confronted with Bastiatâs dilemma: âWhen law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law.â
Americans have lost their minds.
Americans are just animals at this stage.
If the US could be a free country for 200 years then why does the USA need to suddenly become a police state?
Why did the US fight the British if Americans hate freedom?
Why did Americans fight Nazis and Commies just to become Nazis and Commies?
Americans are so retarded now that they need their beloved government overlords to ban straws.
Americans think that they know what is best for others, but are simply unable to understand that if you want your neighbor to remove his garden, your neighbor might want your driveway banned.
Do you feel like the US is a happy utopia now that styrofoam has been outlawed? Do you think tyranny has stopped? Do you honestly believe backpacks will never be banned?
Do you feel safer now that you have no rights?
Everyday Americans spit on the graves of US soldiers who died fighting for freedom.
Everyday Americans shit on the Bill of Rights.
Americans do not have the mental capacity to recognize hypocrisy, do not know history, and are completely unable to comprehend the meaning of unintended consequences.
Americans say North Koreans are monsters for using torture and having nuclear weapons, but then Americans turn around and insist that the US can take the moral high ground for torturing and having nuclear bombs.
Americans scream Trump is a holy god for supporting wars, debt, tyranny, but Obama was evil for defending wars, debt, and the police state.
Americans do not realize that tyranny spreads out from the US to other countries and down to to states, counties, and cities. Americans cannot see that if smoking is banned in California today, smoking might be outlawed in Kansas tomorrow.
The USA feel like it is committing suicide.
Do Americans understand that force is not the only possible answer to solving problems?
Do Americans who hate liberty feel like traitors?
Americans say that they hate the elites, but then Americans turn around and embrace every insane decree, debt increase, and war the globalists are pushing.
When a country is collapsing into madness, the most rational action for any sane person is to leave.
Disgusting and shameful.
Do Americans realize that tyranny grows and never stops?
Why would the elites restore the Bill of Rights, end the wars, and reduce the debt if the ruling class has crossed every line and Americans don't care?
Will Americans regret remaining silent when they get sent to the concentration camps?
Burn it down. Burn it to the ground.
Americans have lost their minds.
Americans are just animals at this stage.
If the US could be a free country for 200 years then why does the USA need to suddenly become a police state?
Why did the US fight the British if Americans hate freedom?
Why did Americans fight Nazis and Commies just to become Nazis and Commies?
Americans are so retarded now that they need their beloved government overlords to ban straws.
Americans think that they know what is best for others, but are simply unable to understand that if you want your neighbor to remove his garden, your neighbor might want your driveway banned.
Do you feel like the US is a happy utopia now that styrofoam has been outlawed? Do you think tyranny has stopped? Do you honestly believe backpacks will never be banned?
Do you feel safer now that you have no rights?
Everyday Americans spit on the graves of US soldiers who died fighting for freedom.
Everyday Americans shit on the Bill of Rights.
Americans do not have the mental capacity to recognize hypocrisy, do not know history, and are completely unable to comprehend the meaning of unintended consequences.
Americans say North Koreans are monsters for using torture and having nuclear weapons, but then Americans turn around and insist that the US can take the moral high ground for torturing and having nuclear bombs.
Americans scream Trump is a holy god for supporting wars, debt, tyranny, but Obama was evil for defending wars, debt, and the police state.
Americans do not realize that tyranny spreads out from the US to other countries and down to to states, counties, and cities. Americans cannot see that if smoking is banned in California today, smoking might be outlawed in Kansas tomorrow.
The USA feel like it is committing suicide.
Do Americans understand that force is not the only possible answer to solving problems?
Do Americans who hate liberty feel like traitors?
Americans say that they hate the elites, but then Americans turn around and embrace every insane decree, debt increase, and war the globalists are pushing.
When a country is collapsing into madness, the most rational action for any sane person is to leave.
Disgusting and shameful.
Do Americans realize that tyranny grows and never stops?
Why would the elites restore the Bill of Rights, end the wars, and reduce the debt if the ruling class has crossed every line and Americans don't care?
Will Americans regret remaining silent when they get sent to the concentration camps?
Burn it down. Burn it to the ground.
Libertarian
boosted
@dcjogger I can never access the images in your GABS, just a heads up.
Itâs wrong for someone to confiscate your money, give it to someone else, and call that âcompassion.
- Libertarian
- https://neinchan.com/pol/
Joined May 2019
