13 Harry Browne Quotes on Freedom

Harry Browne quotes on freedom

4. Before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, many governments in southern states forced people to segregate by race. Civil rights advocates fought to repeal these state laws, but failed. So they appealed to the federal government, which responded with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But this federal law didn't simply repeal state laws compelling segregation. It also prohibited voluntary segregation. What had been mandatory became forbidden. Neither before nor after the Civil Rights Act were people free to make their own decisions about who they associated with.

5. But what could be more important than your happiness? It's said that an authoritarian moral code is necessary to protect society. But who is society? Isn't it just a large group of people, all of whom have differing ideas concerning how one should live? And if an individual is required to give up his own happiness, of what value is society to him?

11. Government seems to operate on the principle that if even one individual is incapable of using his freedom competently, no one can be allowed to be free.

13. Immigrants used to come to America seeking freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom from government. Now they come looking for free health care, free education, and a free lunch.

15. It's wrong for someone to confiscate your money, give it to someone else, and call that 'compassion.'

16. Left-wing politicians take away your liberty in the name of children and of fighting poverty, while right-wing politicians do it in the name of family values and fighting drugs. Either way, government gets bigger and you become less free.

20. Republicans campaign like Libertarians and govern like Democrats.

25. The American heritage was one of individual liberty, personal responsibility and freedom from government : Unfortunately : that heritage has been lost. Americans no longer have the freedom to direct their own lives : Today, it is the government that is free - free to do whatever it wants. There is no subject, no issue, no matter : that is not subject to legislation.

28. The income tax has destroyed the concept of financial privacy. It has demolished the idea that a man's home is his castle. It has provided unlimited funding for politicians to wreck lives and property. It has forced one-earner families to become two-earner households -- leading to decreased parental supervision of children; loss of family values; and increased crime, promiscuity and drug use. So long as the government has the power to invade our lives, rummage through our records, and take what it wants from our income, we will have only as much freedom and take-home pay as the politicians condescend to let us have.

33. Whatever the issue, let freedom offer us a hundred choices, instead of having government force one answer on everyone.

35. When we turn to the government to stop someone from ruining his life with drugs, we convert a personal tragedy into a national disaster.

39. You can't give the government the power to do good without also giving it the power to do bad - in fact, to do anything it wants.

40. You don't have to buy from anyone. You don't have to work at any particular job. You don't have to participate in any given relationship. You can choose