10 quotes
Government lets people take from others without having to face the people being hurt.
Why Government Doesn't Work (1995)
Once its considered proper to use government force to solve one person's problem, force can be justified to solve anyone's problem.
Why Government Doesn't Work (1995)
Gun-control laws don't inhibit criminals, who rarely buy their guns in stores. But the laws do prevent you from defending yourself.
Why Government Doesn't Work (1995)
When someone asks for a government program, he is saying in effect, 'Tell the police to use their guns to get me what I want.'
Why Government Doesn't Work (1995)
But coercion never produces harmony. How harmonious are people who are being forced to act against their will? Most likely, those who are coerced will resent those who benefit from the coercion. This sets group against group; it doesn't bring them together.
Why Government Doesn't Work (1995)
The government that's strong enough to give you what you want by taking it from someone else is strong enough to take everything you have and give it to someone else.
Why Government Doesn't Work (1995)
Government doesn't work, and I want the federal government out of them. The answer always is smaller government. Government forces one choice on everyone. Freedom provides a hundred choices.
Why Government Doesn't Work (1995)
You can't limit government's coercion to just those transfers you believe are fair, because you can't give government the power to force good on the country without also giving it the power to force enormous evil on the country — in fact, to do anything it wants.
Why Government Doesn't Work (1995)
Reinventing government isn't the answer; we need to disinvent it. And you can't make an agency of coercion user friendly; a gun is still a gun — even if the triggerman smiles, calls you 'sir' or 'ma'am,' and lets you fill out a sheet evaluating his performance.
Why Government Doesn't Work (1995)
I call this The Dictator Syndrome. You see suffering or danger, and in your imagination you see a government program eliminating it. But in the real world the program would operate as you expect only if you were an absolute dictator — having at your disposal all the government's power to compel everyone to do things your way.
Why Government Doesn't Work (1995)