Stephen Holmes famous quotes

Last updated: Sep 5, 2024

In Madison's famous formulation in the Federalist, constitutional restrictions on government assume that we "first enable the government to control the governed." If the public authorities can be outgunned or bribed, the vibrancy of the private sector can be pathological.
-- Stephen Holmes

#Government #Vibrancy #Libertarian
Liberalism demands that people without guns be able to tell people with guns what to do.
-- Stephen Holmes

#Gun #People #Demand
Antiliberals endlessly berate their enemies for instrumental thinking. But they do not clearly explain the evil of producing better goods at a lower cost.
-- Stephen Holmes

#Thinking #Evil #Enemy
There is no rule of law until the Mafia needs lawyers.
-- Stephen Holmes

#Law #Mafia #Needs

The mighty edifice of Government science dominated the scene in the middle of the 20th century as a Gothic cathedral dominated a 13th century landscape. The work of many hands over many years, it universally inspired admiration, wonder and fear.
[The U.S. government] was tired of treaties. They were tired of sacred hills. They were tired of ghost dances. And they were tired of all the inconveniences of the Sioux. So they brought out their cannons. 'You want to be an Indian now?' they said, finger on the trigger.
Government...may not be hostile to any religion or to the advocacy of no-religion; and it may not aid, foster, or promote one religion or religious theory against another... The First Amendment mandates governmental neutrality...
The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them.
A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved â€” I do not expect the house to fall â€” but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.
Development cannot really be so centered only on those in power.
Every nation ridicules other nations, and all are right.
Liberal, shmiberal. That should be a new word. Shmiberal: one who is assumed liberal, just because he's a professional whiner in the newspaper. If you'll read the subtext for many of those old strips, you'll find the heart of an old-fashioned Libertarian. And I'd be a Libertarian, if they weren't all a bunch of tax-dodging professional whiners.
I certainly have some very strong libertarian leanings, yes.
I would like to be interpreted as a liberal libertarian, like leave everybody alone and let them do their own thing.

Stephen Holmes famous quotes

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