Reminds me of a Mark Steyn speech I read in which he interpreted the New Hampshire state motto, "Live free or die," not as a defiant battle cry, but a plain statement of the nature of the world, "live as a free man or your society will die."
I've thought for a long time that we need to focus more on being independent and less on being free, because freedom that exists only at the pleasure of some ruling class is just a mirage. Independence means that there are no safety nets, and nobody will necessarily come out from town to rescue you if a boulder traps your hand. But it also means that nobody can tell you not to go out there because that might happen to you.
Independent societies don't just happen. They have to be designed and maintained, and their members must reject the Lotus blossoms of the nanny state. Civil responsibility is more than just voting for the people who deliver your COLAs.
I'm not a libertarian, because I believe that society has a right to impose some limits on us in order for it to survive. I think those who make it work have a right to tell the drones who waste their lives unproductively to get to work, quit the binging on dope and alcohol and raise their kids right or we'll find somebody who will. I don't view abortion as a right, except where the pregnancy isn't the result of your own irresponsibility. I'm not sure we shouldn't save the babies and abort the parents. (Before you send hate mail, yes, that's hyperbole, but I do feel very strongly about those who expect everybody else to save their ridiculously overpriced homes from foreclosure, and other such fools.)
"A man's right … to own property. To have the State as servant and not his master. They are the essence of a free economy. And on that freedom, all of our other freedoms depend."
Comments
She's awesome.
Where are the Thatchers of the world today? We need clarion voices for our cause like her….
There's nothing like the common-sense truth. It's such a soothing balm.
I know there has to be audio somehwere of the full speech, I still can't find it though. Something about hearing a speech…
Boy, she was quite a dish back then, too.
Reminds me of a Mark Steyn speech I read in which he interpreted the New Hampshire state motto, "Live free or die," not as a defiant battle cry, but a plain statement of the nature of the world, "live as a free man or your society will die."
I've thought for a long time that we need to focus more on being independent and less on being free, because freedom that exists only at the pleasure of some ruling class is just a mirage. Independence means that there are no safety nets, and nobody will necessarily come out from town to rescue you if a boulder traps your hand. But it also means that nobody can tell you not to go out there because that might happen to you.
Independent societies don't just happen. They have to be designed and maintained, and their members must reject the Lotus blossoms of the nanny state. Civil responsibility is more than just voting for the people who deliver your COLAs.
I'm not a libertarian, because I believe that society has a right to impose some limits on us in order for it to survive. I think those who make it work have a right to tell the drones who waste their lives unproductively to get to work, quit the binging on dope and alcohol and raise their kids right or we'll find somebody who will. I don't view abortion as a right, except where the pregnancy isn't the result of your own irresponsibility. I'm not sure we shouldn't save the babies and abort the parents. (Before you send hate mail, yes, that's hyperbole, but I do feel very strongly about those who expect everybody else to save their ridiculously overpriced homes from foreclosure, and other such fools.)
"A man's right … to own property. To have the State as servant and not his master. They are the essence of a free economy. And on that freedom, all of our other freedoms depend."
I wish she would come speak to one of my homeowners association meetings.
H.O.A.s probably do more to violate property rights on a daily basis than any government.
And they definitely behave more like a master than a homeowner's servant, while trying to enforce conformity in a community.