Tom G. Palmer Quotes

• If an individual is born with the obligation to obey, who is born with the right to command?

  Tom G. Palmer

  Individuality, Born, Obligation

  Tom G. Palmer (2009). “Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice”, p.37, Cato Institute

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• Young people today are being robbed. Of their rights. Of their freedom. Of their dignity. Of their futures. The culprits? My generation and our predecessors, who either created or failed to stop the world straddling engine of theft, degradation, manipulation, and social control we call the welfare state.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Rights, People, Today

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• But there is no obvious reason for holding that some normal adults are entitled to make choices for other normal adults, as paternalists of both left and right believe.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Believe, Hands, Choices

  Tom G. Palmer (2009). “Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice”, p.35, Cato Institute

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• The government has become a mechanism for distributing largess, and your census form is your ticket.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Government, Tickets, Form

  Tom G. Palmer (2009). “Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice”, p.403, Cato Institute

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• What libertarians assert is simply that differences among normal adults do not imply different fundamental rights.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Rights, Differences, Adults

  Tom G. Palmer (2009). “Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice”, p.35, Cato Institute

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• Equality of rights means that some people cannot simply impose obligations on others, for the moral agency and rights of those others would then be violated.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Mean, Equality, Agency

  Tom G. Palmer (2009). “Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice”, p.36, Cato Institute

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• Libertarians recognize the inevitable pluralism of the modern world and for that reason assert that individual liberty is at least part of the common good.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Pluralism Is, Liberty, World

  Tom G. Palmer (2009). “Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice”, p.39, Cato Institute

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• Libertarians typically argue that particular obligations, at least under normal circumstances, must be created by consent; they cannot be unilaterally imposed by others.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Libertarian, Normal, Arguing

  Tom G. Palmer (2009). “Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice”, p.36, Cato Institute

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• Group personification obscures, rather than illuminates, important political questions.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Political, Important, Groups

  Tom G. Palmer (2009). “Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice”, p.40, Cato Institute

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• [L]et me point out that libertarians defend a tradition of liberty that is the fruit of thousands of years of human history.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Years, History, Liberty

  Tom G. Palmer (2009). “Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice”, p.38, Cato Institute

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• It is precisely because neither individuals nor small groups can be fully self-sufficient that cooperation is necessary to human survival and flourishing.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Self, Survival, Groups

  Tom G. Palmer (2009). “Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice”, p.35, Cato Institute

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• To repeat, communitarians maintain that we are constituted as persons by our particular obligations, and therefore those obligations cannot be a matter of choice.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Choices, Matter, Obligation

  Tom G. Palmer (2009). “Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice”, p.37, Cato Institute

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• Most Europeans have no idea how wild life can be in north America.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Wild Life, Ideas, America

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• Obligations may be universal or particular.

  Tom G. Palmer

  May, Obligation, Palms

  Tom G. Palmer (2009). “Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice”, p.36, Cato Institute

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• Guardians are necessary for children and abnormal adults, because they cannot make responsible choices for themselves.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Children, Choices, Adults

  Tom G. Palmer (2009). “Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice”, p.35, Cato Institute

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• Libertarians recognize the difference between adults and children, as well as differences between normal adults and adults who are insane or mentally hindered or retarded.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Children, Differences, Insane

  Tom G. Palmer (2009). “Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice”, p.35, Cato Institute

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• Obviously, all of us have been influenced by those around us.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Has Beens

  Tom G. Palmer (2009). “Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice”, p.35, Cato Institute

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• Abstraction is a mental process we use when trying to discern what is essential or relevant to a problem; it does not require a belief in abstract entities.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Trying, Essentials, Doe

  Tom G. Palmer (2009). “Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice”, p.34, Cato Institute

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• Libertarians argue that no normal adult has the right to impose choices on other normal adults, except in abnormal circumstances, such as when one person finds another unconscious and administers medical assistance or calls an ambulance.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Choices, Adults, Abnormal

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• The first census in 1790 asked just six questions: the name of the head of the household, the number of free white males older than 16, the number of free white males younger than 16, the number of free white females, the number of other free persons, and the number of slaves.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Names, White, Numbers

  Tom G. Palmer (2009). “Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice”, p.402, Cato Institute

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• At George Mason University I saw Hoppe present a lecture in which he claimed that Ludwig von Mises had set the intellectual foundation for not only economics, but for ethics, geometry, and optics, as well. This bizarre claim turned a serious scholar and profound thinker into a comical cult figure, a sort of Euro Kim Il Sung.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Profound, Intellectual, Foundation

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• The reason the government sells the census as your ticket to getting goodies - rather than as your civic duty - is that distributing goodies is now all the government does.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Government, Doe, Tickets

  Tom G. Palmer (2009). “Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice”, p.401, Cato Institute

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• It is obvious that different individuals require different things to live good, healthy, and virtuous lives.

  Tom G. Palmer

  Healthy, Different, Individual

  Tom G. Palmer (2009). “Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice”, p.38, Cato Institute

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