Power and Liberty

It [American Society] had not yet got a glimpse of the elementary truth which was so clear to the mind of Mr. Jefferson, that in proportion as you give the State power to do things for you, you give it power to do things to you; and that the State invariably makes as little as it can of the one power, and as much as it can of the other.
-Albert Jay Nock. Memoirs of a Superfluous Man. (175-176)

Alexis de Tocqueville

Give common interests to men, join them in common affairs, facilitate their association, give a practical and simple character to this development, constantly draw them closer together, elevate their spirits and their hearts as much as possible. Govern them honestly and prudently. I can imagine making ourselves guardians to the communes if we want to emancipate them. That the government, if it wishes may treat the local powers like children, I allow; but not like fools. Only fools are kept under supervision throughout their lives.
-excerpt from a note quoted in James T. Schleifer. The Making of Tocqueville's Democracy in America. (217)

Woodrow Wilson

The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of governmental power, not the increase of it.
-quoted in Read. The Love of Liberty (88)

The College and the Republic

Unrestrained freedom is anarchy. Restrained only by force and arms, is despotism; self-restrained is Republicanism. Wherever there is wanting the intelligence and virtue requisite for the latter, Republicanism expires. The complicated machinery of free institutions must have an adequate regulator; and that is to be found in our enlightened public conscience. This our Educational institutions- teaching as well the laws of social morality as of physical science- are omnipotent in forming. -Edmund B. Fairfield. "The College and the Republic." Speech given July 4, 1853. Reprinted in Arnn. Liberty and Learning.

Another View on the Continuing Crisis

We should recognize that this habit of calling upon the state, to take charge of matters that were once the concern of individual initiative and private charity, is the surest sign that the inner liberty shown in responsible choice is disappearing from our society. Its disappearance is both the cause of liberal policies and the natural effect of them. People are less and less inclined to take responsibility for their lives. to commit themselves to others, or to social networks...what they can summon the state to solve instead....The state comes with an agenda: it is less interested in freeing people than in equalizing them. -Roger Scruton. Liberty and Civilization: The Western Heritage. (pp. 159-160) So-called "Social Conservatives" would do well to read this and consider its ramifications. Quite often they are just as guilty as progressives of the idea that all you need to correct a problem is to pass a law. But passing a law alone will not change peoples hearts and minds. If their is a "Values Revolution" it must occur in the heart before it can truly take effect.