“A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that it…gives people what they want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought to want.
Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.” – Milton Friedman
Democracy extends the sphere of individual freedom, socialism restricts it. Democracy attaches all possible value to each man; socialism makes each man a mere agent, a mere number. Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude. – Alexis de Tocqueville, September 12, 1848
Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death! – Patrick Henry, from the floor of the Second Virginia Convention being held at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, March 23, 1775
“The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other; and with them this conviction does not spring from that barren traditionary faith which seems to vegetate in the soul rather than to live.” – Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1835
Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as a heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors. – Abraham Lincoln, Speech at Edwardsville, Ill., Sept. 13, 1858
Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law,’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual. – Thomas Jefferson to Isaac H. Tiffany, April 4, 1819
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. – John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961
We will not be deterred. We will not be turned back. I reject the policies of the past, the policies of tax and tax, spend and spend, elect and elect. The lesson of these failed policies is clear; I’ve said this before: you can’t drink yourself sober or spend yourself rich… – Ronald Reagan, February 18, 1983, 10th Annual CPAC Conference