The Positive Testimony Of History Is That

As Sheer Casual Reading Matter, I Still Find The English Dictionary The Most Interesting Book In Our Language.

If You Do Not Want The State To Act Like A Criminal, You Must Disarm It As You Would A Criminal; You Must Keep It Weak. The State Will Always Be Criminal In Proportion To Its Strength; A Weak State Will Always Be As Criminal As It Can Be, Or Dare Be, But If It Is Kept Down To The Proper Limit Of Weakness - Which, By The Way, Is A Vast Deal Lower Limit Than People Are Led To Believe - Its Criminality May Be Safely Got On With.

The Competition Of Social Power With State Power Is Always Disadvantaged, Since The State Can Arrange The Terms Of Competition To Suit Itself, Even To The Point Of Outlawing Any Exercise Of Social Power Whatever In The Premises; In Other Words, Giving Itself A Monopoly.

Considering Mankind's Indifference To Freedom, Their Easy Gullibility And Their Facile Response To Conditioning, One Might Very Plausibly Argue That Collectivism Is The Political Mode Best Suited To Their Disposition And Their Capacities. Under Its Regime, The Citizen, Like The Soldier, Is Relieved Of The Burden Of Initiative And Is Divested Of All Responsibility, Save For Doing As He Is Told.

Americans Have A Strange Notion That The Ordinary Laws Of Economics Do Not Apply To Them. So Doubtless They Will Think They Are Prosperous If The Boom Starts, And That Deficits And Indebtedness Are Merely Signs Of How Prosperous They Are.