Wrong Mr. Seinen, Socialism is itself effectivly no different than an archaic institution: Feudalism. Progressives want us to regress back to serfdom.

If I wake up tomorrow to find quotes from Simone de Beauvoir, Mikhail Bakunin, and Adam Smith I don't know if I will laugh or cry.

Editor: So far this week I feel like I'm trapped in a bad joke. Two socialists and a libertarian walk into a bar.....

Camus' philosophical tail-chasing assumes that the un-provable is false, and that humanity's existence is inherently without meaning. I respectfully disagree.

Bureaucracy ensures its own growth by creating problems, then creating more problems while attempting to tackle the original problem, which would have since solved itself had it not been for the actions of the bureaucracy.

The entire realm of social justice presumes that imbalances of situation can be corrected by a benevolent government. The reality, injustice is done to the "priveleged" classes in the taking of their property and injustice is done to the "under-priveleged" classes by making them wards of the state. For a justice system to be just, it must concern itself with crimes against life liberty and property only.

I like M. La Boétie's use of the pronoun it for those willing slaves, though I'm not sure if he intentionally implies de-humanization or if the use of neutral pronouns to denote groups of mixed gender was a common convention of the time. Does anyone know which may be the case?

I sometimes wonder if the truly apathetic prefer slavery to liberty. Liberty, after all, requires more work on the part of the individual.

Many a bill has passed lately using this philosopy. I have no doubt many politicians begin their political careers hoping to help people. Unfortunately, when they realize that for government to help an individual it must hurt another, they press on with their schemes anyway.

Appeasers also like drawing a line in the sand. That way the line is easier to erase when they decide to move it back.

Mr. Broadhurst, when the U.K. is no longer a protectorate of the U.S. you can then disparage her freely without appearing a fool. Until that day comes you would do well not to curse mommy while you hide behind her skirt.

Many self-professed atheists actively lobby for the removal of religious iconography. This implies not an inherent lack of belief in a god or gods but rather an anti-theist belief. Thusly the atheist exposes themselves to be anti-theists, which will always be defined by theists as a religion unto itself. That said, there is nothing implicitly wrong with being an anti-theist unless you are representing yourself as atheist, at which point you are being dishonest.

The "freedom of the press" is meant as a protection of all forms of non-verbal media from the meddling of government. It does not imply the guarantee of access or ownership, and it is not restricted to those who consider themselves journalists.

This argument falsely assumes that psychiatrists and psychologists somehow manage to live outside the societal norms, that are predicated on a long-held tradition of right and wrong and operate independently of government. If right and wrong was replaced with "government-enforced morality" I would change to 5 stars.

Sorry for the extreme example. Somehow I thought that my opinions on the use of chewing gum (which I greatly dislike) would have less impact.

Eureaka! I just realized East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit must have used a mathematical representation of this quote to process their climate data.

Judith, there is nothing wrong with having a strongly held belief as long as you don't expect that belief to effect anyone else. I strongly believe that homosexual acts are perverse in comparison to heterosexual ones. I have no problem with homosexual people or even those homosexual people performing homosexual acts. I only have a problem with homosexual acts being performed on me, most especially without my consent (which would also apply to nonconsentual hererosexual acts for that matter). The problem arises when we try to force our strongly held beliefs on others.

You can believe whatever you want, but if you intend to use that belief as justification for robbing me or doing me injury, I am inclined to do more than slap you in the face. As for atheism, it is a stubborn refusal to contemplate the unanswerable questions of existence. It is the worst sort of apathy. That said, an atheist has never done me harm yet so hoorah for atheists. P.S. you athiests aren't invited to Christmas dinner, no offence intended.

I don't think the evidence supports a lie from the Bush administration regarding WMDs, though there was no where near sufficient cause for war. I would say most U.S. foreign policy is predicated on at least one lie, but then I'm not invited to CIA briefings. It could be nearly all.

Even a teen in an economics class knows that adding middle-men to a transaction will never save money. The Obamacare Law is four reams of control structure and taxing authority, nothing more.

They must have passed a massive healthcare bill in Aristotle's day as well.

RBE please clarify how Europe has the best standard of living in the world and the best health care. Personal liberty and social mobility are near non-existant in most of Europe. European health care is predicated on rationing and plagued by doctor shortages, sub-standard care, and unsustainable debt loading. The european socialist model is one of repeated failure.

Too true Cado. Only rarely has a people been able to throw off the chains of government with force of arms. A patient man waits for the gluttonous beast to die of natural causes, then fights against the creation of a new beast.

Mr Broadhurst, you can come down off your high horse. The U.S. has been protecting Western Europe, Australia, Canada, and Japan for over 50 years. American international military welfare coupled with debt spending has been converted by the U.K. into social welfare, which has turned the poor of your country into little less than fat dumb cattle. How much civil unrest will there be in Britain when the government grain starts to dry up? Ask Athens.

Guns level the playing field in the absence of government.