Brute force is not our salvation, especially as directed by State central planning and done with little regard for the innocents.

Just because you can watch half-nude women on afternoon television or gay men kissing on the streets of nearly any major city does not mean America is free, as complacent liberals might think, much less too free, as conservatives often suggest. Just because most dissidents are left alone doesn't mean there is no police state, for that would be convenient indeed for the police statists: the idea that people ought not complain so long as they have the right to do so.

The struggle between centralization and decentralization is at the core of American history.

I do not think we will see a stateless society in my lifetime. But I am sure we will not see a state that conforms to the minarchists' ideals. The closer we get, the better, but I see no reason not to aspire for the best government as Thoreau imagined it: none at all. It's certainly more consistently idealistic than what the minarchists imagine, and yet it's at least possible, whereas the existence of a lasting, minimal state is a hopeless fantasy.

The real triumph of civilization is the extent to which coercion is banished from human relations.

As the nation-state has monopolized habeas corpus … on balance we have far more people in prison, federal and state, than ever.

The most destructive thing governments do is divide people against each other, all in competition over the reins of the state.