About
Content
Store
Forum

Rebirth of Reason
War
People
Archives
Objectivism

Post to this threadMark all messages in this thread as readMark all messages in this thread as unread


Post 0

Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 11:04amSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
Dealing with socialists is hard.
You can't just say that freedom's better than tyranny. It doesn't, in reality, work out that easy. Operating on socialists is like brain surgery -- you have got to exercise skill over sheer or brute force. Experience helps in that regard. Here's an update of what I now view as the best quotes to recite to socialists:

circa 300 B.C.
================
The chief beginning of evil is goodness in excess.--Menander
================

1764
================
The tyranny of the many would be when one body takes over the rights of the others, and then exercises its power to change the laws in its favor. ... One despot always has a few good moments, but an assembly of despots never does.--Voltaire
================

1788
================
In the general course of human nature, a power over a man's subsistence amounts to a power over his will.--Alexander Hamilton
================

1811
================
A power of the individuals who compose legislatures, to fish up wealth from the people, by nets of their own weaving ... will corrupt legislative, executive, and judicial public servants.--John Adams
================

1813
================
Power, like a desolating pestilence, pollutes whate'er it touches; and obedience, bane of all genius, virtue, freedom, truth, makes slaves of men, and of the human frame, a mechanized automaton.--Percy Bysshe Shelley
================

circa 1820
================
He who would do good to another must do it in Minute Particulars. General good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite, and flatterer; for art and science cannot exist but in minutely organized particulars.--William Blake
================

1834
================
The arts of power and its minions are the same in all countries and in all ages. It marks its victim, denounces it, and excites the public odium and public hatred, to conceal its own abuses and encroachments.--Henry Clay
================

circa 1840
================
Never let man imagine that he can pursue a good end by evil means. Any other issue is doubtful; the evil effect on himself is certain.--Robert Southey
================

1891
================
All authority is quite degrading. It degrades those who exercise it, and it degrades those over whom it is exercised. When it is violently, grossly, and cruelly used, it produces a good effect, by creating, or at any rate bringing out, the spirit of revolt and Individualism that is to kill it. When it is used with a certain amount of kindness, and accompanied by prizes and rewards, it is dreadfully demoralizing.--Oscar Wilde
================

circa 1900
================
In order to obtain and hold power a man must love it. Thus the effort to get is not likely to be coupled with goodness, but with the opposite qualities of pride, craft and cruelty.--Leo Tolstoy



I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means--except by getting off his back.--Leo Tolstoy



The religious superstition consists in the belief that the sacrifices, often of human lives, made to the imaginary being are essential, and that men may and should be brought to that state of mind by all methods, not excluding violence. The political superstition consists in the belief that, besides the duties of man to man, there are more important duties to the imaginary being, Government, and that the sacrifices--often of human lives--made to these imaginary beings are also essential, and that men may and should be brought to that state of mind by all possible means, not excluding violence.--Leo Tolstoy
================

1912
================
At its first inception all collectivist reform is necessarily deflected, and involves, in the place of what it had intended, a new thing: a society wherein the owners remain few and where the proletarian mass accept a security at the expense of servitude.--Hilaire Belloc
================

1919
================
There is always a type of man who says he loves his fellow men, and expects to make a living at it.--Edgar Watson Howe


I do not love my neighbor as myself, and apologize to no one. I treat my neighbor as fairly and politely as I hope to be treated, but there is no law in nature or common sense ordering me to go beyond that.--Edgar Watson Howe
================

1920
================
No man ever ruled other men for their own good; no man was ever rightly the master of the minds and bodies of his brothers; no man ever ruled other men for anything except for their undoing and for his own brutalization.--George D. Herron
================

1930
================
Under the species of syndicalism and fascism there appears for the first time in Europe a type of man who does not want to give reasons or to be right, but simply shows himself resolved to impose his opinions.--Jose` Ortega y Gasset
================

1931
================
The very act of sacrifice magnifies the one who sacrifices himself to the point where his sacrifice is much more costly to humanity than would have been the loss of those for whom he is sacrificing himself.--Andre` Gide
================

1933
================
Any power must be the enemy of mankind which enslaves the individual by terror and force, whether it arises under a fascist or Communist flag. All that is valuable in human society depends on the opportunity for development according to the individual.--Albert Einstein
================

circa 1940
================
Perhaps a new century is beginning, a century in which the intellectuals and the cultivated class will dream of the means of avoiding utopias and of returning to a non-utopian society, less "perfect" and more free.--Nikolas Berdyayev
================

1941
================
The party denied the free will of the individual--and at the same time it exacted its willing self-sacrifice. It denied his capacity to choose between two alternatives--and at the same time it demanded that he should always choose the right one. It denied his power to choose between good and evil--and at the same time spoke accusingly of guilt and treachery.--Arthur Koestler
================

1943
================
The humanitarian wishes to be the prime mover in the lives of others. He cannot admit either the divine or the natural order, by which men have the power to help themselves. The humanitarian puts himself in the place of God.--Isabel Paterson
================

1944
================
There is no justification for the belief that, so long as power is conferred by democratic procedure, it cannot be arbitrary; the contrast suggested by this statement is altogether false: it is not the source but the limitation of power which prevents it from being arbitrary.--Friedrich A. Hayek



Economic control is not merely control of a sector of human life which can be separated from the rest; it is the control of the means for all of our ends.--Friedrich A. Hayek
================

1946
================
The utopian sets up an ethical standard which purports to be independent of politics, and seeks to make politics conform to it. The realist cannot logically accept any standard of value save that of fact.--E.H. Carr
================

Mid-20th Century
================
Any doctrine that ... weakens personal responsibility for judgment and for action ... helps create attitudes that welcome and support the totalitarian state.--John Dewey



Politicians are not people who seek power in order to implement policies they think necessary. They are people who seek policies in order to attain power.--Evelyn Waugh
================

1951
================
It is not power itself, but the legitimization of the lust for power, which corrupts absolutely.--R.H.S. Crossman


The Communist theory of the dictatorship assumes that ultimate success in achieving the goal is certain--so certain as to justify a generation at least of poverty, slavery, hatred, spying, forced labor, extinction of independent thought, and refusal to cooperate in any way with nations that have heretical governments.--Bertrand Russell
================

1955
================
The radical error of the modern democratic gospel is that it promises, not the good life of this world, but the perfect life of heaven.--Walter Lippmann



The harder they try to make earth into heaven, the more they make it into hell.--Walter Lippmann
================

1957
================
Communism of every type and stripe brings with it an ideological straightjacket. Thought control, brain-washing, censorship, imprisonment, exhile, mental and physical torture are the indispensable weapons of Communist rule. Totalitarianism is soulless.--George Meany
================

1958
================
But to manipulate men, to propel them towards goals which you--the social reformers--see, but they may not, is to deny their human essence, to treat them as objects without wills of their own, and therefore to degrade them.--Sir Isaiah Berlin
================

1960
================
Communism and fascism are so much alike that most people are unable to observe any real differences between them. ... [I]n both cases the means of production are in reality under the control of an unchallengeable dictatorship wielding unlimited power.--Kenneth K. Krogh



The socialists had a certain kind of logic on their side: if the collective sacrifice of all to all is the moral ideal, then they wanted to establish this ideal in practice, here and on this earth. The arguments that socialism would not and could not work, did not stop them: neither has altruism ever worked, but this has not caused men to stop and question it. Only reason can ask such questions—and reason, they were told on all sides, has nothing to do with morality, morality lies outside the realm of reason, no rational morality can ever be defined.

The fallacies and contradictions in the economic theories of socialism were exposed and refuted time and time again, in the Nineteenth Century as well as today. This did not and does not stop anyone: it is not an issue of economics, but of morality. The intellectuals and the so-called idealists were determined to make socialism work. How? By that magic means of all irrationalists: somehow.--Ayn Rand


The nineteenth century was the ultimate product and expression of the intellectual trend of the Renaissance and the Age of Reason, which means: of a predominantly Aristotelian philosophy. And, for the first time in history, it created a new economic system, the necessary corollary of political freedom, a system of free trade on a free market: capitalism.
 

No, it was not a full, perfect, unregulated, totally laissez-faire capitalism—as it should have been. Various degrees of government interference and control still remained, even in America—and this is what led to the eventual destruction of capitalism. But the extent to which certain countries were free was the exact extent of their economic progress. America, the freest, achieved the most.

Never mind the low wages and the harsh living conditions of the early years of capitalism. They were all that the national economies of the time could afford. Capitalism did not create poverty—it inherited it. Compared to the centuries of precapitalist starvation, the living conditions of the poor in the early years of capitalism were the first chance the poor had ever had to survive. As proof—the enormous growth of the European population during the nineteenth century, a growth of over 300 per cent, as compared to the previous growth of something like 3 per cent per century.--Ayn Rand
================

1961
================
Goodness without wisdom always accomplishes evil.--Robert A. Heinlein



If the good, the virtuous, the morally ideal is suffering and self-sacrifice—then, by that standard, capitalism had to be damned as evil. Capitalism does not tell men to suffer, but to pursue enjoyment and achievement, here, on earth—capitalism does not tell men to serve and sacrifice, but to produce and profit—capitalism does not preach passivity, humility, resignation, but independence, self-confidence, self-reliance—and, above all, capitalism does not permit anyone to expect or demand, to give or to take the unearned. In all human relationships—private or public, spiritual or material, social or political or economic or moral—capitalism requires that men be guided by a principle which is the antithesis of altruism: the principle of justice.--Ayn Rand


Capitalism demands the best of every man—his rationality—and rewards him accordingly. It leaves every man free to choose the work he likes, to specialize in it, to trade his product for the products of others, and to go as far on the road of achievement as his ability and ambition will carry him. His success depends on the objective value of his work and on the rationality of those who recognize that value. When men are free to trade, with reason and reality as their only arbiter, when no man may use physical force to extort the consent of another, it is the best product and the best judgment that win in every field of human endeavor, and raise the standard of living—and of thought—ever higher for all those who take part in mankind’s productive activity.--Ayn Rand
================

1962
================
From the utopian viewpoint, the United States constitution is a singularly hardbitten and cautious document, for it breathes the spirit of skepticism about human altruism and incorporates a complex system of checks, balances and restrictions, so that everybody is holding the reins on everybody else.--Chad Walsh



There is no difference between the principles, policies and practical results of socialism—and those of any historical or prehistorical tyranny. Socialism is merely democratic absolute monarchy—that is, a system of absolutism without a fixed head, open to seizure of power by all corners, by any ruthless climber, opportunist, adventurer, demagogue or thug.

When you consider socialism, do not fool yourself about its nature. Remember that there is no such dichotomy as "human rights" versus "property rights." No human rights can exist without property rights. Since material goods are produced by the mind and effort of individual men, and are needed to sustain their lives, if the producer does not own the result of his effort, he does not own his life. To deny property rights means to turn men into property owned by the state. Whoever claims the "right" to "redistribute" the wealth produced by others is claiming the "right" to treat human beings as chattel.--Ayn Rand
================

1963
================
The holistic planner overlooks the fact that it is easy to centralize power but impossible to centralize all that knowledge which is distributed over many individual minds, and whose centralization would be necessary for the wise wielding of centralized power.--Sir Karl Popper
================

1964
================
We cannot win the weak by sharing our wealth with them. They feel our generosity as oppression.--Eric Hoffer


Some of the worst tyrannies of our day genuinely are "vowed" to the service of mankind, yet can function only by pitting neighbor against neighbor. The all-seeing eye of a totalitarian regime is usually the watchful eye of the next-door neighbor.--Eric Hoffer
================

1966
================
Plato's moral code is strictly utilitarian; it is the code of collectivist or political utilitarianism. The criterion of morality is what is in the interest of the state. Morality is nothing but political hygiene. This is the collectivist, the tribal, the totalitarian theory of morality: Good is what is in the interest of my group; or my tribe; or my state.--Sir Karl Popper


Of all political ideals, that of making the people happy is perhaps the most dangerous one. It leads invariably to the attempt to impose our scale of "higher" values upon others, in order to make them realize what seems to us of the greatest importance for their happiness; in order, as it were, to save their souls. It leads to utopianism and romanticism. ... But ... the attempt to make heaven on earth invariably produces hell. It leads to intolerance. It leads to religious laws, and to the saving of souls through the inquisition.--Sir Karl Popper



The action required to sustain human life is primarily intellectual: everything man needs has to be discovered by his mind and produced by his effort. Production is the application of reason to the problem of survival . . . .
 

Since knowledge, thinking, and rational action are properties of the individual, since the choice to exercise his rational faculty or not depends on the individual, man’s survival requires that those who think be free of the interference of those who don’t. Since men are neither omniscient nor infallible, they must be free to agree or disagree, to cooperate or to pursue their own independent course, each according to his own rational judgment. Freedom is the fundamental requirement of man’s mind.--Ayn Rand


It is the basic, metaphysical fact of man’s nature—the connection between his survival and his use of reason—that capitalism recognizes and protects.

In a capitalist society, all human relationships are voluntary. Men are free to cooperate or not, to deal with one another or not, as their own individual judgments, convictions, and interests dictate. They can deal with one another only in terms of and by means of reason, i.e., by means of discussion, persuasion, and contractual agreement, by voluntary choice to mutual benefit. The right to agree with others is not a problem in any society; it is the right to disagree that is crucial. It is the institution of private property that protects and implements the right to disagree—and thus keeps the road open to man’s most valuable attribute (valuable personally, socially, and objectively): the creative mind.--Ayn Rand


The moral justification of capitalism lies in the fact that it is the only system consonant with man’s rational nature, that it protects man’s survival qua man, and that its ruling principle is: justice.--Ayn Rand


Capitalism cannot work with slave labor. It was the agrarian, feudal South that maintained slavery. It was the industrial, capitalistic North that wiped it out—as capitalism wiped out slavery and serfdom in the whole civilized world of the nineteenth century.

What greater virtue can one ascribe to a social system than the fact that it leaves no possibility for any man to serve his own interests by enslaving other men? What nobler system could be desired by anyone whose goal is man’s well-being?--Ayn Rand
================

1967
================
We may describe utopian thought as a belief in an unspoiled beginning and attainable perfection. ... [T]he utopian may be pessimistic about individual human nature, but optimistic about the ability of man's social nature, as embodied in society, to overcome the recalcitrance of the individual. To overcome individual resistance will mean force, but the utopian holds that, if the goal is goodness and perfection, then the use of force is justified. It is even justifiable to establish a special government of the elect as repositories of the doctrine of the perfect society.--Thomas Molnar



As a resurgent tide of mysticism engulfed philosophy in the nineteenth century, capitalism was left in an intellectual vacuum, its lifeline cut. Neither its moral nature nor even its political principles had ever been fully understood or defined. Its alleged defenders regarded it as compatible with government controls (i.e., government interference into the economy), ignoring the meaning and implications of the concept of laissez-faire. Thus, what existed in practice, in the nineteenth century, was not pure capitalism, but variously mixed economies. Since controls necessitate and breed further controls, it was the statist element of the mixtures that wrecked them; it was the free, capitalist element that took the blame.


Capitalism could not survive in a culture dominated by mysticism and altruism, by the soul-body dichotomy and the tribal premise. No social system (and no human institution or activity of any kind) can survive without a moral base. On the basis of the altruist morality, capitalism had to be—and was—damned from the start.--Ayn Rand
================

1974
================
Socialism purports to do away with the inequalities and the savage competition of capitalist class societies. Even in its mildest forms, however, socialism creates new inequalities and new forms of competition. These inequalities are not the result of "class struggle" but of the hierarchical order of bureaucracy.--Peter L. Berger


A basic contradiction of most of the existing socialist systems is precisely this political fact--the contradiction of a dictatorship that defines itself as a democracy.--Peter L. Berger
================

1977
================
Observe the paradoxes built up about capitalism. It has been called a system of selfishness (which, in my sense of the term, it is)—yet it is the only system that drew men to unite on a large scale into great countries, and peacefully to cooperate across national boundaries, while all the collectivist, internationalist, One-World systems are splitting the world into Balkanized tribes.

 
Capitalism has been called a system of greed—yet it is the system that raised the standard of living of its poorest citizens to heights no collectivist system has ever begun to equal, and no tribal gang can conceive of.


Capitalism has been called nationalistic—yet it is the only system that banished ethnicity, and made it possible, in the United States, for men of various, formerly antagonistic nationalities to live together in peace.

Capitalism has been called cruel—yet it brought such hope, progress and general good will that the young people of today, who have not seen it, find it hard to believe.

As to pride, dignity, self-confidence, self-esteem—these are characteristics that mark a man for martyrdom in a tribal society and under any social system except capitalism.--Ayn Rand
================

1978
================
The connection between the Gulag and Marx is obvious. It is not an accident which can be explained by bureaucracy, Stalinist deviation or Lenin's errors. Rather it is a direct and ineluctable logical consequence of Marxist principles. The classless society is not a messianic vision, but rather another name for terror.--Monique Hirschhorn
================

1979
================
This dream of absolute, universal equality is amazing, terrifying and inhuman. And the moment it captures people's minds, the result is mountains of corpses and rivers of blood, accompanied by attempts to straighten the stooped and shorten the tall.--Vladimer Bukovsky
================

1981
================
Liberalism has for the most part lost its historic objective in its growing fascination with the uses of centralized power. Where freedom from power was for a long time the chief end of liberal thought, participation in and control of power have become the chief idols of the liberal mind in our time.--Robert Nisbet
================

1982
================
The absence of utopianism in the Constitution, law, and traditional political culture has been ... important in limiting expectations concerning what can be achieved by politics. The history of the last two centuries confirms what the framers of the Constitution understood: that the perfect is the enemy of the good, and the search for unalloyed virtue in public life leads to unalloyed terror.--Jeane J. Kirkpatrick
================

1983
================
Selfish individuals may be unhappy, the Nazis said, but what we have established in Germany is the ideal system, socialism. ...

"To be a socialist," says Goebbels, "is to submit the I to the thou; socialism is sacrificing the individual to the whole."

By this definition, the Nazis practiced what they preached. They practiced it at home and then abroad. No one can claim that they did not sacrifice enough individuals.--Leonard Peikoff
================

1985
================
Orwell knew that the Jacobins controlling a centralized economy are prepared, once they can claim the endorsement of the general will, to do anything in behalf of their conceptions of Reason and Virtue, and he knew that, just here, is the seedbed of the totalitarian state.--Nathan A. Scott



A totally socialized society has a high totalitarian potential. Therefore, in the light of history and psychology, we need to encourage plural forms of ownership, plural forms of association, so that one can survive if it becomes necessary to oppose the groups in power.--Sidney Hook
================

1990
================
The principal impediment to personal independence and political freedom lies, not surprisingly, in human nature: specifically in the fact that man possesses a powerful passion to control others; that the most effective way to do so is by infantilizing them and pretending to care for them.--Thomas Szasz
================


Ed

(Edited by Ed Thompson on 9/28, 2:17pm)


Post 1

Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 2:19pmSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
Ed,

Great quotes, but where do you get the time?

jt

Post 2

Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 7:32pmSanction this postReply
Bookmark
Link
Edit
I actually had all these quotes in my head, complete along with who it was that said them and when. It went pretty fast, actually -- typing them out as fast as I could think.

It's one of the benefits of having Aspberger's Autistic Spectrum Disorder!

Ed
[just kidding, I think]


Post to this thread


User ID Password or create a free account.