Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
People seek government action because they don’t approve of what other people choose to do with their lives. They want to overrule the decisions others have made concerning the uses of their own time and money. It generally works this way: The individuals in Group A want something that requires the cooperation of Group B. But they can’t (or won’t)
... See moreHarry Browne • How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World

This action of individual exertions, joined to that of the public authorities, frequently performs what the most energetic central administration would be unable to execute.
Alexis de Tocqueville • Democracy in America, Volume I and II (Optimized for Kindle)
Any individual in the General Market can give to the poor, pay for someone else’s schooling, donate money to foreign governments, or hire protection. It isn’t his choice he’s concerned about when he wants the government to do those things. It’s someone else’s choice that he’s trying to overrule.
Harry Browne • How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World
Thomas Jefferson, in his first inaugural address, articulated one of the clearest assertions about “good government” consistent with the spirit of the Declaration.
“…a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall
... See moreNevertheless local assemblies of citizens constitute the strength of free nations. Town-meetings are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they bring it within the people's reach, they teach men how to use and how to enjoy it. A
Alexis de Tocqueville • Democracy in America, Volume I and II (Optimized for Kindle)
Locke’s breakthrough — unimagined even by Christian thinkers as formidable as Thomas Aquinas — was to combine the classical view of natural law with the concept of inalienable rights. In his Two Treatises of Government (1689), Locke identified these rights as “life, liberty, and property.” He drew from the Scriptures, as well as from Cicero, to
... See morenationalreview.com • A Brief History of Individual Rights | National Review
natural goods (water, air, the environment, etc.)
social goods (cultural goods, knowledge, historical memory, etc.)
material goods (public squares, public parks, gardens,... See more