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—Sir Donald the Elusive

—S. H., a prisoner

Some Thoughts About Government
Taken from Milam’s Notes, available in Pharos.
When a government becomes so large that individuals can influence it only in large groups, then that government is no longer concerned with individuals.  Its authority might be benevolent, its forms and traditions might be libertarian, but it’s no longer government by the people.
The typical response to any unpleasant circumstance is, “There ought to be a law!”  However, the resulting legislation is more likely to complicate the problem than to solve it and might create new problems in addition to the old one.  Legislation doesn’t solve problems.  Only people can do that.
Don’t feel sorry for the police.  Their job is supposed to be difficult.  Otherwise, you’re living in a police state.
Government, like cancer, grows more quickly as the terminal condition approaches.
A rule of parasitism is that the host organism must not be burdened beyond its ability to support the parasite, or they both will die.  This rule applies to government as a parasite on society.
Attempts to restrict the possession of weapons ignore the fact that anything can be a weapon when armament is a state of mind.
The right to armed revolution is one of the people’s most basic rights.  It’s the function for which the ballot substitutes and it’s the final protection against creeping authority.  It’s sufficiently important that its attempted limitation by government is in itself a cause for armed revolt.
The only difference between taxation and extortion is the excuse for doing it.
A man who doesn’t fear his government is naive.  A man with faith in its inherent benevolence is a fool.
A slave mentality exists when security is more important than freedom.  Governments encourage this condition.
Attempts by government to solve a problem always perpetuate the problem.
It’s usually easier to deal with obnoxious behavior in someone than it is to tolerate the legislation that would be required to prevent the behavior.
Vice squads, narcotics squads, and other such groups are more dangerous than the activities that they pretend to control.
That government is next to best that governs least.  That government is best that governs not at all.
The usual cures for cancer can also be tried on government.
If you started eliminating legislation purely at random, then you’d have about a 99% chance of improving things.
Government is a good example of man’s inhumanity to man.  Religion is another.
Actions of government should be more carefully restricted than those of individuals.
If the government taps your phone, then look at the bright side.  At least your opinion will be heard.
For every time that you’re defenseless there will be at least ten times that the police couldn’t have helped anyway.
Government is never justified in forcing an answer from a person who doesn’t want to give it.
Any tax supported bureaucracy can generate enough work to sustain itself.
It hasn’t yet been proven possible to eliminate a tax supported bureaucracy except, possibly, by creating several more tax supported bureaucracies to take its place.
The right of society to protect itself is a dangerous fiction promoted by those who seek power and excused by those who are unable or unwilling to protect themselves.  People have rights.  Society doesn’t have rights.
You know that you’re living in a police state when you realize that you’re more likely to be arrested than you are to be mugged.
An inherent flaw in the practice of representative forms of government is that the people must be content with the election of representatives while having essentially no control over the enactment of legislation.

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— editor

— Sam Aurelius Milam III, editor