“Freedom means not only that our economic..."


“Freedom means not only that our economic activity ought to be free and voluntary, but that government should stay out of our personal affairs as well.  In fact, freedom means that we understand liberty as an indivisible whole.  Economic freedom and personal liberty are not divisible.  How do you plan to exercise your right to free speech if you’re not allowed the economic freedom to acquire the supplies necessary to disseminate your views?  Likewise, how can we expect to enjoy privacy rights if our property rights are insecure?” -Page 109 of The Revolution, A Manifesto

"If Americans knew the real story of foreign aid...."

"If Americans knew the real story of foreign aid and how it has deformed recipient economies, aided repressive regimes, and even contributed to violent strife, they would oppose it even more strongly than they already do.  If they knew about the record of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank when it comes to helping developing countries, they would be similarly appalled.  At long last, these seemingly untouchable programs need to be called into question, and then, in the name of liberty and humanity, discarded forever." -Page 101 of The Revolution, A Manifesto

"The ideas of liberty and a free economy have not..."

"The ideas of liberty and a free economy have not spread with equal force everywhere in the world; nor have they been implemented with consistency.  The results have been overwhelming all the same.  Between 1980 and 2000, India's real GDP per head more than doubled, and in China real income per capita rose by 400 percent.  Poverty in China went from 28 percent in 1978 to 9 percent in 1998.  In India, it fell from 51 percent in 1977-1978 to 26 percent in 1999-2000.  "Never-before," writes economist Martin Wolf, "have so many people- or so large a proportion of the world's population- enjoyed such large rises in their standards of living." " -Pages 100 & 101 of The Revolution, A Manifesto

"Do our leaders in Washington believe in liberty?"

"Do our leaders in Washington believe in liberty? They sometimes say they do. I don't think they are telling the truth. The existence of the wealth-extracting leviathan state in Washington, DC, a cartoonishly massive machinery that no one can control and yet few ever seriously challenge, a monster that is a constant presence in every aspect of our lives, is proof enough that our leaders do not believe. Neither party is truly dedicated to the classical, fundamental ideals that gave rise to the American Revolution." -Page XII of Liberty Defined

"To believe in liberty is not to believe in any particular....."

"To believe in liberty is not to believe in any particular social and economic outcome. It is to trust in the spontaneous order that emerges when the state does not intervene in human violation and human cooperation. It permits people to work out their problems for themselves, build lives for themselves, take risks and accept responsibility for the results, and make their own decisions." -Page XII of Liberty Defined

"The definition of liberty I use is the same one..."

"The definition of liberty I use is the same one that was accepted by Thomas Jefferson and his generation. It is the understanding derived from the great freedom tradition... This is the agenda I embrace, and one that I believe all Americans should embrace." -Pages XI & XII of Liberty Defined

"My message is one of freedom and individual rights."

"My message is one of freedom and individual rights.  I believe individuals have a right to life and liberty and that physical aggression should be used only defensively.  We should respect each other as rational beings by trying to achieve our goals through reason and persuasion rather than threats and coercion.  That, and not a desire for "economic efficiency," is the primary moral reason for opposing government intrusions into our lives: government is force, not reason. 

People seem to think I am speaking of principles foreign to the Republic tradition. But listen to the words of Robert A. Taft, who in the old days of the Republican Party was once its standard-bearer:

"When I say liberty I do not simply mean what is referred to as "free enterprise." I mean liberty of the individual to think his own thoughts and live his own life as he desires to think and to live; the liberty of the family to decide how they wish to live, what they want to eat for breakfast and for dinner, and how they wish to spend their time; liberty of a man to develop his ideas and get other people to teach those ideas, if he can convince them that they have some value to the world; liberty of every local community to decide how its children shall be educated, how its local services shall be run, and who its local leaders shall be; liberty of a man to choose his own occupation; and liberty of a man to run his own business as he thinks it ought to be run, as long as he does not interfere with the right of other people to do the same thing."

As we'll see in a later chapter, Taft was also an opponent of needless wars and of unconstitutional presidential war-making. THIS is the Republican tradition to which I belong."  -Page 5 and 6 of The Revolution, A Manifesto