Government seems to operate on the principle that if even one individual is incapable of using his freedom competently, no one can be allowed to be free.
Interpretation
This quote implies that the incompetence of one individual should not determine the freedom of all.
Harry Browne's quote reflects a philosophical stance on the nature of freedom and governance. It suggests that the overreach of government often stems from a belief that the incompetence or inability of a single person to use their freedom responsibly justifies restrictions on the freedoms of everyone. This highlights a fundamental tension between individual liberties and the role of authority in society.
In practice
In a debate about government policies that limit personal freedoms, this quote can illustrate the potential dangers of assuming all individuals are not capable of making responsible decisions.
Asset forfeiture is a mockery of the Bill of Rights. There is no presumption of innocence, no need to prove you guilty (or even charge you with a crime), no right to a jury trial, no right to confront your accuser, no right to a court-appointed attorney (even if the government has just stolen all your money), and no right to compensation for the property that's been taken.
Conservatives say the government can't end poverty by force, but they believe it can use force to make people moral. Liberals say government can't make people be moral, but they believe it can end poverty. Neither group attempts to explain why government is so clumsy and destructive in one area but a paragon of efficiency and benevolence in the other.
No one ever died from smoking marijuana, but millions of people have died by believing politicians.
When you know that you're capable of dealing with whatever comes, you have the only security the world has to offer.
You can't give the government the power to do good without also giving it the power to do bad - in fact, to do anything it wants.
A great burden was lifted from my shoulders the day I realized that no one owes me anything.
Introspection, or 'sitting in the silence,' is an unscientific way of trying to force apart the mind and senses, tied together by the life force. The contemplative mind, attempting its return to divinity, is constantly dragged back toward the senses by the life currents.
American myths have never been colorless.
Lord free me of myself, so I can please you!
The air was stifling, but he liked it because it was stifling city air, full of excitingly unpleasant smells, dangerous music, and the distant sound of warring police tribes.
Every action has an ancestor of a thought.
I yearn to live and love and burn, and yet so much of my time is spent faking and forgetting, faking and forgetting I carry out my disbelief with uninspired hands, my eyes shut, my emotions dulled, my spirit numb. In times like these I am in desperate need of truth to come to me like a blinding light, like a splinter in my soul, reminding me of the brevity of my time here on earth.
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