Historic Views on Government – Brookes

Honest opinion about government from Warren Brookes:

[T]he whole notion of using the tax system as a method of redistributing wealth rests on a fallacy�namely, that wealth is money, and that all one has to do to transfer wealth is to transfer money.
   The trouble with that hypothesis is that money is nothing more than a medium of exchange. Real wealth is the total productive output of the economy in the form of services and goods, which are in turn the product of the energy, resources, and talents of the people who produce them. Thus merely passing money around does little to change a nation's real productive output or wealth, nor does it change the inherent "wealth capacity" of individual citizens. All it does is to reduce the real value of the money itself, through inflation.
   The Economy in Mind, 1982

An award-winning columnist for Creator's Syndicate, Warren Brookes holds a degree in economics from Harvard and is known for his carefully argued economic critiques of liberal thought. He is the author of The Economy in Mind (1982).

Quotation and short bio from The Quotable Conservative: The Giants of Conservatism on Liberty, Freedom, Individual Responsibility, and Traditional Values. Rod L. Evans and Irwin M. Berent, editors. Holbrook, Mass.: Adams Publishing, 1996.

Historic Views on Government – Webster

Honest opinion about government from Daniel Webster:

An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, the power to destroy.
   argument in McCullough v. Maryland, Supreme Court, 1819

In the nature of things, those who have no property and see their neighbors possess much more than they think them to need, cannot be favorable to laws made for the protection of property. When this class becomes numerous, it becomes clamorous. It looks on property as its prey and plunder, and is naturally ready, at times, for violence and revolution.
   address, Massachusetts Convention, 1820

Whatever government is not a government of laws, is a despotism, let it be called what it may.
   speech, Aug. 25, 1825

A lawyer and politician famous for his oratory, Daniel Webster won national recognition in the Supreme Court case McCullough v. Maryland (1819). He was a Federalist and represented New Hampshire in the House of Representatives (1813-1817). After he moved to Boston, he served in the House (1823-1827) and Senate (1827-1841, 1845-1850). Webster was Secretary of State under Presidents Harrison (1841-1843) and Fillmore (1850-1852).

Quotation and short bio from The Quotable Conservative: The Giants of Conservatism on Liberty, Freedom, Individual Responsibility, and Traditional Values. Rod L. Evans and Irwin M. Berent, editors. Holbrook, Mass.: Adams Publishing, 1996.