TIBOR MACHAN

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            “Essentially the foundation of libertarianism can be appreciated if one just reads the Declaration of Independence, which of course as you know starts with, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ---- life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’ Governments are instituted to secure these rights, you read this carefully ---- appreciate the meaning unalienable, that means you can’t lose these rights as long as you are a human being; these are your rights. And if the government is supposed to be instituted so as to secure these rights, the government can’t trample on those rights for whatever purpose they might have. The fundamental role of government in a free society is to secure individual rights…So (the) revolutionary notion of the American political condition is that government is our servant, we hire like a bodyguard to do a particular job, a very limited job, and they do it in a very restrictive way with due process…

            “Now the libertarians take this to its fullest, most logical conclusion and maintain that government is at most a referee in a society like the referees of the game, doesn’t play the game, doesn’t take any sides, doesn’t console the losers or (praise) the winners, doesn’t help the people who get injured…and so on, Government only does one thing: make sure that the rules are played, and the rules in a free society are these unalienable rights we all have, rights to our lives, our liberty and to the pursuit of happiness which also includes property rights… In a complicated world like ours, one would often hear that though we can no longer live by these rules, those were primitive, 18^th – century concepts. We now live in a very complicated world and now we need to expand the scope of government power in order to take care of some of our problems. Libertarians reject this notion, pretty much on the same ground that if you have a principle in any discipline, be it physics or chemistry or botany, the fact that things that were complicated does not overrule the principle.

            “Now the fact that libertarians are not that popular these days is kind of understandable. After all, the American Revolution was very (recent) in historical terms, the idea that the government is supposed to be a hired servant of people who want their rights protected is so new, so outrageously revolutionary, that not even Americans have gotten used to it. The government of habit whereby people always run to the government to solve their problems is ancient…

            “And that’s what we find in some of the editorials of the Tribune and many other Freedom entities. Freedom Communications is owned by a family, founded by R.C. Hoiles, back in the 30’s, who held these principles very dear to his heart and he decided to go into business, into the newspaper business…and try and teach the readers that these ideas are valid…. The fact that they are not popular, the fact that a lot of people have given up on the American idea, doesn’t bother this family because we are committed to try to promote these ideas even if they are unpopular in the process. Even if it costs us a few readers in the process, or advertisers in the process, because these are very valuable, important ideas.

            “We don’t kid ourselves to think that this is going to be an easy road. Hardly anybody who is a libertarian thinks that tomorrow morning at 9 o’clock that you are going to wake up to a totally free society. That’s a myth. The governmental habit is so entrenched throughout life around the world and even in America that this road is a very, very hard one and it may never come to full fruition.

            “It’s a little bit like marriage. One hopes for the best, but we may settle for the next best.”

 

 

                        U.S. REP. JEFF FLAKE

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            “As far as those who are, for a lack of a better term, small ‘l’ libertarians, or small government conservatives, it is a frustrating experience in Washington. In particular, just on the spending side, to see the growth in government, which is probably the best measure to see the growth away from the ideals that libertarians have.

            “If some members didn’t try to put a break on it somewhere, it would just be even bigger…. It is quite lonely sometimes. With another presidential campaign coming up, it is hoped that those candidates will appeal to them and stake out a new ground again and say we are too dependent in this area. (For example), we will look at where we are going with health care. If we move toward single-payer health care, is that where we want to go? Do we really want to end up like Canada in that regard?

            “So there are some points at which I think we can turn back and at least tack the other way, for a while at least. But the appeal is very strong to have government take care of you and become dependent on government.”

 

 

                        MESA MAYOR KENO HAWKER

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            “When I ran for office, I basically went in telling people this is my philosophy of government. You don’t have to go to all of the council meetings to figure out how I’m going to vote. That was basically to limit the growth of government and to have as many individual freedoms as we can.

            “Now, we face many, many dilemmas as council members. We have regional development block grant programs. We have spending measures out at Williams Gateway Airport that will help to defend the airport that are tied into federal appropriations. A lot of those programs, if you don’t submit the applications, the funding will go to someone else. Some of those programs are questionable, whether that would be your priority. But they may be the priority of that Congress.

            “A lot of this is calculated. And I’m a businessman, so I’m kind of practicable in trying to get to the target, even if I have to go around the whole field in order to find the target…”

 

 

                        TOM RAWLES

                        ____________

 

            “The reason that libertarians are not very popular is they tend to be consistent. The tyranny of the left, which wants to take your money to give it to somebody else, is about that far away (holds his fingers close together) from the tyranny of the right that wants to tell you how to live your life personally… That’s why the political sector is a circle and not a straight line.

            “Libertarians say our guiding principle is we will not initiate force against another. It doesn’t matter if it’s economically or personally. That’s the value. Now, we can use force to defend ourselves. But we will never initiate force. So if I reach into your pocket and say you’re going to pay for that man’s health care, that’s force. When I say you are going to feed the homeless through the coercive power of taxation, that’s force.

            “It is very easy to say ‘I want this for my community’, and we might all agree. The question is, is there anyone who doesn’t want it? And if there is even just one…there are certain things in this country that the majority cannot do to the minority, no matter how big the majority is. (While a Maricopa County supervisor), there were 2 ½ million people who lived in Maricopa County at the time, and I was the only one who voted against the baseball stadium. Why? Only four people got to vote, because the Legislature made sure we wouldn’t submit such a corporate welfare thing to the people… But there were thousands of people, if not millions, who did not want to pay for the baseball stadium. Is baseball good? I love baseball…. But why should the taxpayers have to fund a playground for millionaires to earn their money?

            “It is not moral for you to use force against me to accomplish something that you want, but I don’t. But that is what government does.”