Harry Browne

I found that I was getting a warm reception for my message of freeing you from the income tax, releasing you from Social Security, ending the insane war on drugs, restoring gun rights, and reducing the federal government to just its constitutional functions.

I'm old enough to remember the end of World War II. On Aug. 14, 1946, a year after the Japanese were defeated, most newspapers and magazines had single articles commemorating the end of the war.

World War II has always been of great interest to me. I've known for decades that it was just one more war the politicians suckered us into.

It is well known that in war, the first casualty is truth - that during any war truth is forsaken for propaganda.

Like many people, most Libertarians feel empathy and sympathy for less fortunate people. But they know you can't have perfection in a world of limited resources.

A Libertarian society of unfettered individualism spreads its benefits to virtually everyone - not just those who have the resources to seize political power.

The American way was for commerce, personal relationships, and religion to be voluntary. No one was forced to participate in something he didn't want.

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.

Security... it's simply the recognition that changes will take place and the knowledge that you're willing to deal with whatever happens.

You don't need an explanation for everything, Recognize that there are such things as miracles - events for which there are no ready explanations. Later knowledge may explain those events quite easily.

For most of our history, Americans enjoyed both liberty and security from foreign threats.

Each person is living for himself his own happiness is all he can ever personally feel.

Government is force, pure and simple. There's no way to sugar-coat that. And because government is force, it will attract the worst elements of society - people who want to use government to avoid having to earn their living and to avoid having to persuade others to accept their ideas voluntarily.

The government's War on Poverty has transformed poverty from a short-term misfortune into a career choice.

If younger people see older people who haven't planned ahead and have to rely on charity, the young will be more likely to provide for the future. Today when someone plans poorly, the only consequence people see is a demand for more government.

The communitarians may say you've been enjoying too much individual freedom, and that you must give up some of that for the benefit of the community. But they really mean that they want more power over your life - to force you to subsidize, obey and conform to their choices.

Freedom and responsibility aren't interconnected things. They are the same thing.

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.

Everyone will experience the consequences of his own acts. If his act are right, he'll get good consequences if they're not, he'll suffer for it.

Libertarians know that a free country has nothing to fear from anyone coming in or going out - while a welfare state is scared to death of poor people coming in and rich people getting out.