Not one person in a thousand understands this. But when you come to understand that freedom is what has driven virtually all human progress, you’ll also understand the perniciousness of government, and the essential feature that separates them from everyone else in society…and why it is critical to define the proper role of government…
“It is important to remember that government interference always means either violent action or the threat of such action. The funds that a government spends for whatever purposes are levied by taxation. And taxes are paid because the taxpayers are afraid of offering resistance to the tax gatherers. They know that any disobedience or resistance is hopeless. As long as this is the state of affairs, the government is able to collect the money that it wants to spend. Government is in the last resort the employment of armed men, of policemen, gendarmes, soldiers, prison guards, and hangmen. The essential feature of government is the enforcement of its decrees by beating, killing, and imprisoning. Those who are asking for more government interference are asking ultimately for more compulsion and less freedom.”
Ludwig von Mises
About It's a Learning Problem
Welcome to my blog!
This blog is being created so that I can make my own meager contribution to the advancement of human liberty. I believe that the advancement of liberty is a learning problem and not a teaching problem. My goal is simply to learn. As I learn, I hope to share what I’ve learned with you. It is my hope that in giving, I will receive. As Leonard Read said:
“Why is this simple solution so little recognized, as if it were a secret; or so hesitatingly accepted, as if it were something unpleasant? Why do so many regard as hopeless the broadening of the single consciousness over which the individual has some control while not even questioning their ability to stretch the consciousness of others over which they have no control at all?
Most of the answers to these questions are as complex as the psychoanalysis of a dictator or the explanation of why so many people dote on playing God. Leaving these aside, because I do not know the answers, there stands out one stubborn but untenable reason: the widespread but desolating belief that the world or the nation or society could never be “saved” by the mere salvaging of private selves. People say, “There isn’t time for such a slow process,” and then, to speed things up, they promptly hurry in the wrong direction! They concentrate on the improvement of others, which is a hopeless task, and neglect the improvement of themselves, which is possible. Thus, the world or the nation or society remains unimproved.”
It's A Learning Problem 