As the old systems crumble under their own contradictions, the state grows more desperate—more authoritarian—cloaking its decay in patriotic slogans and moral crusades. Yet no volume of coercion can conjure what has been systematically undermined: a society grounded in self‑ownership, reciprocal respect, and the willingness to deal with one another as equals rather than enemies. View quoted note →

"A system built on coercion needs division like oxygen. It must invent internal enemies to justify its dominance, to keep people dependent on its “protection.” When citizens are busy fighting one another—over politics, culture, race, or faith—they are not asking the fundamental question: why should anyone rule them at all?" View quoted note →

Stop Fighting Your Neighbor: The Mechanics of State Power and How to Opt Out My latest with Mises https://mises.org/mises-wire/stop-fighting-your-neighbor-mechanics-state-power-and-how-opt-out

Why do we need to give money to taxes and social security? That money needs to go to fun stuff, like chicken nuggies and milkshakes.

“The State is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.” — Frédéric Bastiat

A fractured society cannot effectively resist centralized authority because resistance requires coordination, and coordination requires trust.

“I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”

I love being a dad View quoted note →

"Rothbard considered the classical-liberal solution to the fundamental human problem of protection—of a minimal or night-watchman state, or an otherwise “constitutionally limited” government—as a hopelessly confused and naive idea. Every minimal state has the inherent tendency to become a maximal state, for once an agency is permitted to collect any taxes, however small and for whatever purpose, it will naturally tend to employ its current tax revenue for the collection of ever more future taxes for the same and/or other purposes. Similarly, once an agency possesses any judiciary monopoly, it will naturally tend to employ this privileged position for the further expansion of its range of jurisdiction. Constitutions, after all, are state-constitutions, and whatever limitations they may contain—what is or is not constitutional—is determined by state courts and judges. Hence, there is no other possible way of limiting state power except by eliminating the state altogether and, in accordance with justice and economics, establishing a free market in protection and security services." —Hans-Hermann Hoppe

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. View quoted note →

In the wilderness of the New World, the Plymouth Pilgrims had progressed from the false dream of communism to the sound realism of capitalism. At a time of economic uncertainty and growing political paternalism, it is worthwhile recalling this beginning of the American experiment and experience with economic freedom. This is the lesson of the First Thanksgiving. This year, when we, Americans sit around our dining table with family and friends, we should also remember that what we are really celebrating is the birth of free men and free enterprise in that New World of America. The true meaning of Thanksgiving, in other words, is the triumph of Capitalism over the failure of Collectivism in all its forms.

The Future of Freedom Foundation

Thanksgiving: Celebrating the Birth of American Free Enterprise – The Future of Freedom Foundation

This time of the year, whether in good economic times or bad, is when Americans gather with their families and friends and enjoy a Thanksgiving mea...

A world in which the wealthy are powerful is still a better world than one in which only the already powerful can acquire wealth.” — Friedrich Hayek