The CyberNation of Freedom Library: Interesting Quotes & Facts

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Interesting Quotes & Facts

"No army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come."
(Victor Hugo)
"No one can doubt that the wave of the future is not the conquest of the world by a single dogmatic creed but the liberation of the diverse energies of free nations and free men."
(John F. Kennedy, 1962)
"A wise and frugal government which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government."
(Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, 1801)
"The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs or impede their efforts to obtain it." (John Stuart Mill)
"A policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy."
(Friedrich A. Hayek, 1944)
"I hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: as government expands, liberty contracts." (Ronald Reagan, Farewell Address, January 11, 1989)
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
(Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963)
"In 1995 Gallup pollsters found that 39 percent of Americans said that "the federal government has become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens." Pollsters couldn't believe it, so they tried again, taking out the word "immediate." This time 52 percent of Americans agreed."
(David Boaz, Executive Vice-President of the Cato Institute, 1997)
"The Great Irony of the 20th Century is that the systems of democracy and capitalism engaged in a century long battle of attrition against the systems of socialism and centralized economic planning and actually believe that they have been victorious. If we compare the remnants of the democratic and capitalist systems today with what they were when the battle first began, we can clearly see that these systems have been completely infiltrated and undermined by the socialist beliefs they fought so hard to defeat. The prime example being that total U.S. government spending (federal, state and local) in 1900 was less than 12% of the national income, whereas in 2000, it is nearly 50%."
(The CyberNation of Freedom, 2000)
"On both sides of the Atlantic, it is only a little overstated to say that we preach individualism and competitive capitalism, and practice socialism." (Milton Friedman, 1994, from the Introduction to The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek, page xvii.)
"Major wars aside, government spending from 1800 to 1929 did not exceed about 12 percent of the national income. Two-thirds of that was spent by state and local governments, mostly for schools and roads. As late as 1928, federal government spending amounted to about 3 percent of the national income." ( Milton and Rose Friedman, Free to Choose, 1980) "By 1950, total U.S. government spending (federal, state and local) had reached 25 percent of the national income, by 1993 45 percent (Milton Friedman, Introduction to The Road to Serfdom, 1994 ed.), and today is nearly 50 percent."
(The CyberNation of Freedom, 2000)
"On February 25, 1913 Amendment XVI to the U.S. Constitution was enacted authorizing Congress, for the first time, to levy income taxes on individuals to pay for the operations of the government. Income taxes in 1913 ranged from 1% on incomes of $20,000 to 6% on incomes above $500,000, and the highest total tax was 7%. Today, a mere 86 years later, the average individual pays nearly 50% of his or her income in taxes of one form or another. The federal income tax is only half the picture, for one must also consider the following: state income taxes, state disability taxes, social security taxes, medicare taxes, medicaid taxes, unemployment insurance taxes, local taxes, property taxes, capital gains taxes, estate and inheritance taxes, gift taxes, sales taxes, electricity taxes, water taxes, sewage taxes, telephone taxes, cable taxes, corporate taxes, import taxes, export taxes, luxury taxes, gasoline taxes, alcohol taxes, tobacco taxes, vehicle registration taxes, hotel accommodation taxes, airplane ticket taxes, building permit taxes, regulation taxes, licensing taxes, parking taxes, etc. Governments have even stooped to the level of organizing and operating gambling lotteries to raise revenues."
(The CyberNation of Freedom, 2000)
"I think it's irritating that once I die, 55% of my money goes to the United States government... You know why that's irritating? Because you would have already paid nearly 50%... When you leave a house or money to people, then they're taxed 55%, so you've got to leave them enough so that once they're taxed, they still have some money."
(Oprah Winfrey, August 4, 1997)
"The tax laws undermine the country's prosperity by imposing needlessly harsh penalties on work, savings, and investment. Although many taxpayers face confiscatory tax rates and often are forced to pay more than one layer of tax on their income, the politically well-connected can take advantage of special deductions, credits, preferences, shelters, and loopholes to minimize their own tax liability. The result of this double standard is a tax system that not only penalizes productive behavior, but also violates the fundamental constitutional principle of equal treatment under the law."
(Heritage Foundation)
"Government has violated our most sacred constitutional principle of equal and fair treatment under the law by arbitrarily implementing policies of taxation that are unequal, unfair and overbearing. They impose heavy penalties on those who are productive by claiming immense portions of their income. Nearly one half of the individual's work day is literally being seized by government. Although a mandatory tax is justifiable to fund the operations of government, the existing governing bodies believe that 40%, 50% or even 75% taxation of the individual's labors is fair. The CyberNation, on the other hand, believes that these levels of taxation constitute state sponsored slavery, and must not be allowed to exist in systems that claim to be free."
(The CyberNation of Freedom, 2000)
"The family first pays taxes on their own income (perhaps their wages). That is tax one. They save some of that after-tax income in the form of corporate equities. But the corporation pays corporate taxes (on behalf of the family as a shareholder.) That is a second tax. Then the family pays taxes again when it receives dividends or capital gains... That is a third tax on the saving. If the family is fortunate enough to accumulate, even at a few thousand dollars a year compounded over a lifetime, enough to leave a taxable estate, the saving is taxed a fourth time."
(Michael Boskin, Hoover Institute. Chairman of the Presidents Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) from 1989 to 1993.)
"The property tax began in the American colonies for two reasons. In a world almost without economic statistics, property was the best measure of a person's ability to pay taxes. And virtually all real property produced income, providing the means to pay the taxes. Today, however, we are awash in statistics and nearly all residential property is income-absorbing."
(The Wall Street Journal, John Steele Gordon. August 21, 1998, Page A14.)
"Few people in the United States are aware of the enormous gasoline taxes they are currently paying. The gasoline tax started out years ago as a small benign tax to supplement road development and maintenance, and unfortunately it has been allowed to evolve into one of the great government ripoffs of the consumer. In California, for example, the purchase of gasoline is accompanied by an unseen federal/state/local tax of 36.4 cents per gallon, plus sales tax of 7.75%. When added together, using $1.30 as the pump price, the consumer is paying over 33% in taxes."
(The CyberNation of Freedom, 2000)
"Today, Americans give up more money in federal taxes than at any time when the country wasn't at war: 20.7% of the economy. Without withholding, it would be difficult to envision this scale of taxation persisting in a land born of a tax revolt."
(The Wall Street Journal, Amity Shlaes. April 15, 1999, Page A22.)
"If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute."
(Thomas Paine, Rights of Man)
"Two major arguments are offered for introducing socialized medicine in the United States: first, that medical costs are beyond the means of most Americans; second, that socialization will somehow reduce costs. The second can be dismissed out of hand - at least until someone can find some example of an activity that is conducted more economically by government than by private enterprise. As to the first, the people of the country must pay the costs one way or another; the only question is whether they pay them directly on their own behalf, or indirectly through the mediation of government bureaucrats who will subtract a substantial slice for their own salaries and expenses. In any event, the costs of ordinary medical care are well within the means of most American families. Private insurance arrangements are available to meet the contingency of an unusually large expense. Already, 90 percent of all hospital bills are paid through third-party payments. Exceptional hardship cases no doubt arise, and some help, private or public, may well be desirable for them. But help for a few hardship cases hardly justifies putting the whole nation in a straitjacket."
(Milton and Rose Friedman, Free To Choose, 1980)
"Direct government spending is less than 15 percent of national in come in Hong Kong versus 40 percent in the United States. Indirect government spending via regulations and mandates on private individuals and businesses is negligible in Hong Kong but accounts for around 10 percent of national income in the United States."
(Milton Friedman)
"Hong Kong's celebrated flat tax system is really a 15 percent alternative maximum tax. The vast majority of Hong Kong residents opt voluntarily to short-circuit the complexities of the normal tax system and pay the simple flat tax instead."
(Cato Institute)
"Social Security is a big problem. At its current high rate, it has become the highest tax for seven out of 10 taxpaying households. Today, Social Security and Medicare alone impose on young workers a tax rate of 7.65%, higher than what millionaires paid when the income tax was born in 1913." [Note: The payroll tax rate for Social Security and Medicare is really 15.3%, for the employers are forced to match what their employees pay.]
(The Wall Street Journal, Amity Shlaes. February 25, 1999, Page A18.)
"In the past 50 years, the Social Security payroll tax rate has skyrocketed to 12.4% from 2%. The amount of income subject to Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes has grown from a taxpayer's first $7,800 of income in 1971 to his first $72,400 today."
(The Wall Street Journal, Steve Forbes. April 14, 1999, Page A26.)
"There is an important lesson here. It is far easier to introduce a government program than to get rid of it."
(Milton and Rose Friedman, from their memoirs, Two Lucky People.)
"The capital of the United States is a city with no real industry except for politics and influence, and so huge sums of money are paid to lobbyists trying to influence politicians. Last year $1.42 billion was spent in that endeavor, a research group said today. That total was a 13 percent increase over the $1.26 billion that lobbyists were paid in 1997, said the group, the Center for Responsive Politics." "The $1.42 billion was paid to lobbyists by airplane manufacturers, bankers, doctors and lawyers, drug companies, hospitals, universities, Indian tribes - in short, by just about any person or any institution that has business before the Federal Government." "In mid-1997, there were 14,946 lobbyists registered in Washington, the center's report said. A year later there were 18,590, and by June 15 there were 20,512, or about 38 lobbyists for each member of the House and the Senate."
(The New York Times, David Stout. July 29, 1999 Page A14.)
"The index alone for the Code of U.S. Federal Regulations now extends to over 1000 pages in length, and the listings of the regulations themselves span 50 separate volumes, each containing multiple books. The rulings, regulations, bulletins, etc. that medical professionals must adhere to for medicare, started in 1965, now number over 110,000 pages (Mayo Clinic). The United States Budget Bill passed into law on October 21, 1998 is 4,000 pages in length, weighs over 40 pounds, and is comprised of funding for every special interest ever imagined. The most glaring example is the United States tax code, which is over 7.5 million words, runs over 38,000 pages, and is repeatedly changed so as to remain confusing and unintelligible to the average citizen. Compare these to the fact that the entire United States Constitution (1787) and Bill of Rights (1791) are less than 5 pages combined."
(The CyberNation of Freedom, 2000)
"The abandonment of self-discipline has ignited a regulatory explosion. The number of [U.S.] government agencies has doubled in ten years. On average, for every new law passed by Congress, unelected bureaucrats turn out 18 new regulations with the force of law. It is down this road that whole nations go from regulation to regimentation to tyranny."
(Paul Harvey, 1998)
"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficial. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greater dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding."
(Justice Louis Brandeis, Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S.479, 1928)
"And to preserve [our] independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debts, as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our callings and our creeds, as the people of England are, our people, like them, must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, give the earnings of fifteen of these to their government for their debts and daily expenses; and the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we must live, as they now do, on oatmeal and potatoes; have no time to think, no means of calling the mis-managers to account; but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers....And this is the tendency of all human governments. A departure from principle in one instance becomes a precedent for a second; that second for a third; and so on, till the bulk of the society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery, and to have no sensibilities left but for sinning and suffering....And the fore horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression."
(Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Kercheval, 1816)
"Just because the government repeatedly tells you that you are free, doesn't mean that you are. The fact that they keep telling you so is a great reason for concern. You must measure government by its actions, not its rhetoric."
(The CyberNation of Freedom, 2000)
"Man is born free, and yet we see him everywhere in chains."
(Jean Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1762)
"It is by his freedom that a man knows himself, by his sovereignty over his own life that a man measures himself."
(Elie Wiesel, "What Really Makes Us Free?" from the Kingdom of Memory, 1990)
"Only free men can negotiate; prisoners cannot enter into contracts."
(Nelson Mandela, 1985)
'No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent."
(Abraham Lincoln, 1854)
"It is better to protest than to accept injustice."
(Rosa Parks)
"It is possible for a single individual to defy the whole might of an unjust empire to save his honour, his religion, his soul, and lay the foundation for that empire's fall or regeneration."
(Mahatma Gandhi)
"The moment the slave resolves that he will no longer be a slave, his fetters fall. He frees himself and shows the way to others. Freedom and slavery are mental states."
(Mahatma Gandhi, Non-Violence in Peace and War, 1948)
"Non-violence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed."
(Mahatma Gandhi, 1922)
"I have sworn upon the alter of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
(Thomas Jefferson, 1800)
"We seek not to conquer anyone, we instead aim to liberate everyone."
(The CyberNation of Freedom, 2000)
"You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it."
(Margaret Thatcher)
"Liberty is always unfinished business."
(American Civil Liberties Union)
"Failure is impossible."
(Susan B. Anthony)
"He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it."
(Confucius, 551-479 B.C.)
"Our true nationality is mankind."
(H.G. Wells, The Outline of History)
"There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things." (Nicolo Machiavelli)
"Every new day begins with possibilities. It's up to us to fill it with the things that move us toward progress and peace."
(Ronald Reagan)
"It is time for a new generation of leadership, to cope with new problems and new opportunities. For there is a new world to be won."
(John F. Kennedy, 1960).
"We stand today on the edge of a new frontier."
(John F. Kennedy, 1960)