Maggie's FarmWe are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for. |
Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page
Categories
QuicksearchLinks
Blog Administration |
Sunday, April 26. 2009Laissez faire!Our Bastiat quote du jour, from this site. Fortunately, it's simple French:
Posted by The Barrister
in Politics, Quotidian Quotable Quote (QQQ)
at
12:21
| Comments (0)
| Trackbacks (0)
Thursday, April 23. 2009QQQSuppose gentlemen, you said to me, ‘Socrates, you shall be acquitted on this occasion, but only on one condition. That you give up spending your time on this quest and stop philosophising. If we catch you going on in the same way, you shall be put to death. Well, supposing, as I said, that you should offer to acquit me on these terms, I should reply: Plato on Socrates, The Apology Wednesday, April 22. 2009QQQ: The rations of slaveryFreedom is not empowerment. Empowerment is what the Serbs have in Bosnia. Anybody can grab a gun and be empowered. It's not entitlement. An entitlement is what people on welfare get, and how free are they? It's not an endlessly expanding list of rights — the "right" to education, the "right" to food and housing. That's not freedom, that's dependency. Those aren't rights, those are the rations of slavery — hay and a barn for human cattle. P.J. O'Rouke, 1993 Monday, April 20. 2009QQQThe principal feature of American liberalism is sanctimoniousness. By loudly denouncing all bad things — war and hunger and date rape — liberals testify to their own terrific goodness. More important, they promote themselves to membership in a self-selecting elite of those who care deeply about such things.... It's a kind of natural aristocracy, and the wonderful thing about this aristocracy is that you don't have to be brave, smart, strong or even lucky to join it, you just have to be liberal. P.J. O'Rourke Friday, April 17. 2009QQQEvery new generation constitutes a wave of savages who must be civilized by their families, schools, and churches. Robert Bork (H/t, Gates of Vienna) Thursday, April 16. 2009A long QQQ: Rick Warren on his lifeIn an interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:
QQQWednesday, April 15. 2009QQQ re "reasonable self-loathing"I wonder how many of the people who profess to believe in the leveling ideas of collectivism and egalitarianism really just believe that they themselves are good for nothing. I mean, how many leftists are animated by a quite reasonable self-loathing? In their hearts they know that they are not going to become scholars or inventors or industrialists or even ordinary good kind people. So they need a way to achieve that smugness for which the left is so justifiably famous. They need a way to achieve self-esteem without merit. Well, there is politics. In an egalitarian world everything will be controlled by politics, and politics requires no merit. P.J. O'Rourke. Yes, for some people self-love is more important than accomplishment. QQQI contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. Winston Churchill Tuesday, April 14. 2009QQQEverybody wants to save the earth; nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes. P.J. O'Rourke Sunday, April 12. 2009QQQForeigners may pretend otherwise, but if English is spoken loudly enough, anyone can understand it. P.J. O'Rourke Thursday, April 9. 2009QQQ"Somehow liberals have been unable to acquire from life what conservatives seem to be endowed with at birth: namely, a healthy skepticism of the powers of government agencies to do good." Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan (h/t, Vanderleun). Moynihan was the kind of wise Dem for whom I could have considered voting. Wednesday, April 8. 2009QQQ"You're blessed when you are at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and His rule." Matthew 5, The Message Bible
Monday, April 6. 2009QQQI'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 names in the Boston phone book than to the faculty of Harvard University. William F. Buckley. By my count, the Maggie's staff has 8 Ivy degrees among us all, including a Harvard (you wouldn't know it from reading us, though, due to ADD, learning disabilities, being dropped on the head, excess pot smoking, global warming, radon, immunizations, military service, eating non-organic beef and vegetables, and etc.), and we will heartily ditto WFB. Moreover, we have no interest in governing or controlling anybody except ourselves - which is plenty enough for anyone to do. Sunday, April 5. 2009QQQ"A man can only be young once, but he can be immature forever." Catherine Aird (h/t, Vanderleun). For every step towards true maturity I take, I seem to take two steps back. Saturday, April 4. 2009Trojan Horses for totalitarian trendsThis is a re-post from one year ago
At Maggie's Farm, we tend to suspect that issues such as medical insurance, gun control, health, and climate fears are indeed Trojan Horse issues (as Coyote terms them), advocated to increase goverment control over our lives and to reduce our choices, freedom, and self-determination as free adults who are capable of managing our own lives, in our own ways - for better or worse. No, not "capable" - "endowed by our Creator" and our history with that privilege and that freedom. One must be suspicious of motives when vast, costly government-control solutions are offered to trumped-up or imaginary "crises." "We the people" are smart enough to figure it all out for ourselves, despite what the self-anointed "elite" might think: not one of the "elite" is better educated, or more worldly, than we ADD-victim redneck folks at Maggie's are. As we like to snobbishly say, "Who are these people?"
The people who seek control are not necessarily evil: they no doubt believe that they are not only benign but virtuously-intentioned, and especially qualified to make decions for us. They almost certainly believe that they are more "caring" than I am. The single most damaging error of the modern age is the misperception of government as an agency of compassion. As a replacement for the "divine right of kings," this misperception has, for those in power, been an astonishing success. For the rest of mankind, it has frequently been a disaster beyond imagining. Government is nothing more than structured, widespread coercion, and the idea that it can implement compassion for us by force is simply a vile and cunning lie. It is cunning because people are primed and willing, even desperate, to believe it. - Glenn Allport However, individual freedom does not enter into their equations as a caring virtue - or even as a virtue or American ideal at all. (We believe it to be a transcendent ideal, and a gift of God.) Hence what we view as the totalitarian or, as Goldberg and H.G. Wells would have it, "fascistic" proclivities of the Left.
Since we at Maggie's view individual liberty, and the responsibilitities which accompany it, as an almost religious, if not religious ideal, we must view those who wish to diminish liberty as enemies of man and of human dignity.
Are we paranoid about State power? Given human history, and the course of US history, we do not think so.
Furthermore, we do not wish to rely on the judgement of anyone who wants to run any part of our lives. As Milton Friedman asks in this entertaining YouTube, "Where are these angels who are going to run my life for me?"
No, we aren't anarchists. We do not object to drivers' licenses, or even hunting licenses. We will pay a fair share of taxes as a price of civilization. I do not even mind zoning if the people vote for it, and I am all in favor of national, state and local parks. But we are not willing to be "governed." That's where we draw the line. Being "governed" is for children (by "governesses"). Free citizens must learn to be self-governing as adults which, as our Dr. Bliss often reminds us, is no easy task but is a highly worthy and ennobling pursuit.
It's all about where you draw the line for government intrusion into one's life. Some of us still want to be Americans, not Europeans. But that's enough pontificating for now. Top image: A photo of Westport, CT's Minuteman statue on Compo Road, near Compo Beach (via Dr. X). In my own, humble internet way, I want to continue our Minutemen's work and their radical ideal of individual freedom and responsibility in a country free of government tyranny. "We the people," (excluding those with their hands out) have more sense and more life experience than anyone in a government career, or any of the elites on the academic dole.
Posted by The News Junkie
in Our Essays, Politics, Quotidian Quotable Quote (QQQ)
at
12:22
| Comments (39)
| Trackbacks (0)
Thursday, April 2. 2009QQQAmerica was never perfect, but it was never conceived to be some abstract utopia showcasing human perfection. The 56 men who came together to usher it forth understood that in order to form a more perfect union they had to pledge their lifes, their fortunes and most of all, their sacred honor. They understood clearly that human freedom only guarantees that mistakes will be made; but that the human soul is only able to thrive when human nature is allowed to be free. Further, they understood that society too, will inevitably progress when the individual human soul is unchained. Dr. Sanity. Yes, freedom is messy and complicated, but it beats the state of serfdom to the power-hungry and arrogant elites. Furthermore, the Overlords have no more wisdom - probably less - than the average Joe. Count me as an average Joe, and happy and proud to be one. QQQWhat if my idea of the "common good" is different from yours? What if my idea of "the common good" is the freedom and sanctity of the individual? What if I believe that pursuit of individual freedom, self interest, opportunity, and happiness is the highest "common good"? A paraphrase of Rush Limbaugh, on Monday. He is on a roll, and very funny these days. Wednesday, March 25. 2009QQQ"A poem doesn't mean, it just is." Does anybody know who said that? I forgot. Maybe Archibald MacLeish? And does it make any sense? Or does the quote itself just "is" and doesn't "mean"? Monday, March 23. 2009QQQHave you ever heard of "The Belgian Dream"? No, you haven't, because there isn't one. Mark Steyn, on the radio today QQQAmericans are Lockeans: recognizing that work is necessary and will produce well-being; following their natural inclinations moderately because their passions are balanced; respecting the rights of others so that theirs will be respected; obeing the law because they made it in their own interest. From the point of view of God or heroes, all this is not very inspiring. But for the poor, the weak, the oppressed, it is the promise of salvation. As Leo Strauss put it, the moderns "built on low but solid ground." Allan Bloom Tuesday, March 17. 2009Quotes from St. Patrick"I am Patrick, yes a sinner and indeed untaught; yet I am established here in Ireland where I profess myself bishop. I am certain in my heart that "all that I am," I have received from God. So I live among barbarous tribes, a stranger and exile for the love of God." "I am Patrick, a sinner, most uncultivated and least of all the faithful and despised in the eyes of many." "Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me."
Also, a reader sent in a hymn - a new one to me - St. Patrick's Breastplate - which is a translation from Gaelic. Good tune, and it uses those words in the third quote. Monday, March 16. 2009QQQ
Robert Heinlein, as quoted in a counterattack piece at Synthstuff Sunday, March 15. 2009QQQ
Dan, at A Slower Pace
« previous page
(Page 30 of 62, totaling 1528 entries)
» next page
|