Ron Paul quote of the day

Via the Libertarian Alliance blog, I find this article on freedom by Ron Paul. I think that the precis sums up the tenor of the whole piece rather well.

Few Americans understand that all government action is inherently coercive. If nothing else, government action requires taxes. If taxes were freely paid, they wouldn’t be called taxes, they’d be called donations. If we intend to use the word freedom in an honest way, we should have the simple integrity to give it real meaning: Freedom is living without government coercion. So when a politician talks about freedom for this group or that, ask yourself whether he is advocating more government action or less.

It is very rarely that they actually mean less government action, let's face it. The vast majority of laws make us less free, and governments can do little other than enact laws and thus politicians tend to remove liberty, not enhance it.