10 Commandments to go on State Capitol

[Townsend]

Now that I think of it, my son and daughter believe in magic elves that live on shelves just before Christmas, perhaps some day they can share that with you.  I'm glad to know you would never make fun of that.

Those elves are used to control the children through a type of fear.  "Don't be bad, the elf is watching.  He'll tell Santa."

I guess I can see where you'd circle around to that.

[nathanm]

It is not the goal of every Jew, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu to indoctrinate you.  If you are solid and comfortable in your beliefs or lack thereof, that fear should not exist. 

Do you rail on about irresponsible government spending because you're scared of government or because you believe the government should spend its money responsibly? Not all of us live in fear, my friend.

[Gaspar]

If you have a fear like that, there's more than just a doubt in your philosophy.

That was my pont. 

There is no need to ridicule another for what they choose to believe, unless you have some motivation to do so.

[Gaspar]

Do you rail on about irresponsible government spending because you're scared of government or because you believe the government should spend its money responsibly? Not all of us live in fear, my friend.

Indeed I fear government and its growth.  We all should.
Of course there are always those who suffer from eleutherophobia and dream of government as their provider. 
I think I actually fear those people the most.


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. . .I place economy among the first and most important of republican virtues, and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared. – President Thomas Jefferson

Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. – George Washington

Love your country but fear its government. – N.E. folk wisdom

When the government fears the people, it is liberty. When the people fear the government, it is tyranny. – Thomas Paine

[Gaspar]

Those elves are used to control the children through a type of fear.  "Don't be bad, the elf is watching.  He'll tell Santa."

I guess I can see where you'd circle around to that.

Will you deprive your child of the magic of childhood?

My daughter has such a friend in her class at school.  He is a very sad little boy.

[Townsend]

That was my pont. 

There is no need to ridicule another for what they choose to believe, unless you have some motivation to do so.

OK, great talk Russ.

[Townsend]

Will you deprive your child of the magic of childhood?

My daughter has such a friend in her class at school.  He is a very sad little boy.

Where do you draw the line at "magic"?

[nathanm]

Indeed I fear government and its growth.  We all should.

Government is nothing more than a tool, my friend. Fearing government is like fearing a screwdriver.

[Gaspar]

Government is nothing more than a tool, my friend. Fearing government is like fearing a screwdriver.

There are millions of people that would argue that point if they could.   

Government is force, it is not inherently benevolent, in fact history teaches us otherwise.  The more power we feed it, the less controlled it becomes.  As it expands, liberty contracts.

It took about 150 years, starting with a Bill of Rights that reserved to the states and the people all powers not explicitly delegated to the federal government, to produce a Supreme Court willing to rule that growing corn to feed to your own hogs is interstate commerce and can therefore be regulated by Congress. – David Friedman

Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness. – George Washington

The more power a government has the more it can act arbitrarily according to the whims and desires of the elite, and the more it will make war on others and murder its foreign and domestic subjects. The more constrained the power of governments, the more power is diffused, checked, and balanced, the less it will aggress on others and commit democide. – R. J. Rummel

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. – Harry Browne

The power which a multiple millionaire, who may be my neighbor and perhaps my employer, has over me is very much less than that which the smallest "functionaire" possesses who wields the coercive power of the state, and on whose desecration it depends whether and how I am allowed to live or to work. – Frederich von Hayek

Powerful government tends to draw into it people with bloated egos, people who think they know more than everyone else and have little hesitance in coercing their fellow man. Or as Nobel Laureate Friedrich Hayek said, "in government, the scum rises to the top". – Walter E. Williams

[nathanm]

Government is what we make of it. It is not an "other," it is in fact us. Ours is, anyway. That's the whole point of that "freedom" thing we've been trying to spread around the world. It's not freedom from government, it's freedom of government.

A picture of atrocities committed by a desperate people on the command of an unelected dictator doesn't make me fear government. It makes me fear opportunistic sociopaths who prey on the weak and use the media to froth up deep hatred toward minority groups by blaming the nation's ills on them and casting them as subhuman.

[Hoss]

Government is what we make of it. It is not an "other," it is in fact us. Ours is, anyway. That's the whole point of that "freedom" thing we've been trying to spread around the world. It's not freedom from government, it's freedom of government.

A picture of atrocities committed by a desperate people on the command of an unelected dictator doesn't make me fear government. It makes me fear opportunistic sociopaths who prey on the weak and use the media to froth up deep hatred toward minority groups by blaming the nation's ills on them and casting them as subhuman.

Wait, didn't you just describe quite a bit of the Republican Party?  That part known as the Tea Party?

[Conan71]

Government is what we make of it. It is not an "other," it is in fact us. Ours is, anyway. That's the whole point of that "freedom" thing we've been trying to spread around the world. It's not freedom from government, it's freedom of government.

A picture of atrocities committed by a desperate people on the command of an unelected dictator doesn't make me fear government. It makes me fear opportunistic sociopaths who prey on the weak and use the media to froth up deep hatred toward minority groups by blaming the nation's ills on them and casting them as subhuman.

Ginning up racial discord amongst minorities toward the white and wealthy is just as dangerous.

[guido911]

Wait, didn't you just describe quite a bit of the Republican Party?  That part known as the Tea Party?

Most likely OWS. Those damned 1%ers cheated, lied, stole blah blah blah. We gotta make em pay.

[guido911]

Ginning up racial discord amongst minorities toward the white and wealthy is just as dangerous.

Wait, didn't you just describe quite a bit of the democrat party?

[Conan71]

Wait, didn't you just describe quite a bit of the democrat party?

Why yes, yes I did!