"Dictatorship over consumers’ choices, then, can only atrophy morality rather than promote it. There is but one way that morality can spread from the enlightened to the unenlightened—and that is by rational persuasion. If A convinces B through the use of reason that his moral values are correct and B’s are wrong, then B will change and adopt the moral course of his own free will. To say that this method is a slower procedure is beside the point. The point is that morality can spread only through peaceful persuasion and that the use of force can only erode and impair morality."
— Ten Ethical Objections to the Market Economy - Murray N. Rothbard - Mises Daily
"It is not the business of government to make men virtuous or religious, or to preserve the fool from the consequences of his own folly. Government should be repressive no further than is necessary to secure liberty by protecting the equal rights of each from aggression on the part of others, and the moment governmental prohibitions extend beyond this line they are in danger of defeating the very ends they are intended to serve."
— Liberty For All » Blog Archive » The business of government
"We don’t live in a free market, but rather in a corporatist economy where government favors may convert activities that would serve the general interest into activities inimical to it. That’s why one cannot give a priori approval to Bain. A final judgment must await close examination of its activities in light of government corporatist intervention."
— Romney and Bain Capital by Sheldon Richman
"Nobody is pointing this out. I understand why Democrats prefer Obama over Bush. Under Obama, they get even more nationalization of industry, socialization of medicine, and deficit spending for social programs. But I don’t see why they’re so threatened by Bush. Under Bush, they got most of what they want."
— “Return to Bush’s Policies”? We Already Have Them | Capitalism Magazine
"At the same time there is increasing evidence that a failure to respect and protect property rights undermines environmental stewardship, particularly on private land. This is important in a country like the United States in which a majority of land is privately owned. This problem is most evidence in the context of endangered species. A majority of those species listed as endangered or threatened rely upon private land for some or all of their habitat. If these species are not saved on private land, they may not be saved at all."
— Business - Megan McArdle - How Property Rights Could Help Save the Environment - The Atlantic
"As we have already seen, Mises, the great defender of the gold standard and 100-percent-reserve free banking, in the 1960s collided head-on with theorists who, led by Friedman, supported flexible exchange rates. Mises decried the behaviour of his disciple Machlup, when the latter abandoned the defense of fixed exchange rates. Now, fifty years later and on account of the euro, history is also repeating itself. On that occasion, the advocates of monetary nationalism and exchange-rate instability won, with consequences we are all familiar with. This time around let us hope that the lesson has been learned and that Mises’s views will prevail. The world needs it and he deserves it."
— In defence of the euro: an Austrian perspective » The Cobden Centre
