As I was researching today for my thesis in the Croatian Fraternal Union's "Zajednicar" weekly newspaper from 1951, I came across an article named, "The Big Lie." In it, the CFU-as was common practice at the time-attempted to denounce Communism. The editor included a quote by GE Chairman Philip Reed on how the general public could be sold the "Big Lie" of Communism. I thought it was interesting that you could just as well use the "Big Lie" concept for modern day statism and positive law, rather than Communism. Keep in mind the "big lie" of statism when reading the quote and think of how well it matches with the ignorance of the masses:
"Tell a Big Lie to millions of people, tell it over and over without bothering about facts or logic, without regard to how preposterous or ridiculous or vicious it sounds at first, and pretty soon it acquires status of fact with those unhappy people who are not in a position to check the facts. Pretty soon even the injured and slandered parties, who know better, are panicked into fighting The Big Lie or negotiating over it, just as if it were the truth. Actually, this is the old concept that the end justifies the means, no matter how immoral the means may be."
Spot on. Spot on.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
What is legislation?
This is from Lysander Spooner's "Natural Law"...
What, then, is legislation? It is an assumption by one man, or body of men, of absolute, irresponsible dominion over all other men whom they call subject to their power. It is the assumption by one man, or body of men, of a right to subject all other men to their will and their service. It is the assumption by one man, or body of men, of a right to abolish outright all the natural rights, all the natural liberty of all other men; to make all other men their slaves; to arbitrarily dictate to all other men what they may, and may not, do; what they may, and may not, have; what they may, and may not, be. It is, in short, the assumption of a right to banish the principle of human rights, the principle of justice itself, from off the earth, and set up their own personal will, pleasure, and interest in its place. All this, and nothing less, is involved in the very idea that there can be any such thing as human legislation that is obligatory upon those upon whom it is imposed.
What, then, is legislation? It is an assumption by one man, or body of men, of absolute, irresponsible dominion over all other men whom they call subject to their power. It is the assumption by one man, or body of men, of a right to subject all other men to their will and their service. It is the assumption by one man, or body of men, of a right to abolish outright all the natural rights, all the natural liberty of all other men; to make all other men their slaves; to arbitrarily dictate to all other men what they may, and may not, do; what they may, and may not, have; what they may, and may not, be. It is, in short, the assumption of a right to banish the principle of human rights, the principle of justice itself, from off the earth, and set up their own personal will, pleasure, and interest in its place. All this, and nothing less, is involved in the very idea that there can be any such thing as human legislation that is obligatory upon those upon whom it is imposed.
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