Adam Smith advocates basically what we see in modern America in "Wealth of Nations":
Adam Smith of course has always been the patron saint of libertarian conservatives. Wen Jiaboa said China had him in mind when they switched to capitalism. Sorry but you have to be an idiot and illiterate.
The first duty of the sovereign
protecting the society from the violence and invasion of other independent societies
The second duty
protecting, as far as possible, every member of society from the injustice or oppression of every other member of it
The third and last duty
erecting and maintaining those public institutions and those public works, which, though they may be in the highest degree advantageous to a great society, are, however, of such a nature that the profit could never repay the expense to any individual or small number of individuals, and which it therefore cannot be expected that any individual or small number of individuals should erect or maintain.â
Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice; all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things.â
Even the most ordinary degree of kindness or beneficenceâ¦cannot, among equals, be extorted by force
justiceâ¦only hinders us from hurting our neighbor
We may often fulfill all the rules of justice by sitting still and doing nothing.â
I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good. It is an affectation
â
The man of system
seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chess-board
in the great chess-board of human society, every single piece has a principle of motion of its own, altogether different from that which the legislature might choose to impress upon it
if they are opposite or different, the game will go on miserably, and the society must be at all times in the highest degree of disorder.â
â¦no human wisdom or knowledge could ever be sufficient [for] the duty of superintending the industry of private people, and of directing itâ¦
The statesman who should attempt to direct private people wouldâ¦assume an authority which could safely be trusted, not only to no single person, but to no council or senate whatever, and which would nowhere be so dangerous as in the hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it.
â¦public prodigality and misconduct
may consume [so much]
that all the frugality and good conduct of individuals may not be able to compensate the waste
occasioned by this violent and forced encroachment.â
After all the proper subjects of taxation have been exhausted, if the exigencies of the state still continue to require new taxes, they must be imposed upon improper ones.
Let us notâ¦rashly conclude that [society] is capable of supporting any burden, nor even be too confident that she could support, without great distress, a burden a little greater than what has already been laid upon her.
An inquisition into every man=s private circumstances
in order to accommodate the tax to them, watched over all the fluctuations of his fortunes, would be a source of such continual and endless vexation as no people could support.â
The uniform, constant and uninterrupted effort of every man to better his condition
is frequently powerful enough to maintain the natural progress of things toward improvement, in spite both of the extravagance of government, and of the greatest errors of administration
it frequently restores health and vigor to the constitution, in spite, not only of the disease, but of the absurd prescriptions of the doctor.â
What would Adam Smiths response to those who want to turn him into a mascot for big government? All systems either of preference or of restraint therefore, being thus completely taken away, the obvious and simple system of natural liberty establishes itself of its own accord. Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest in his own way.â
The government needed to support a system of natural liberty is minuscule. It does not require trillions of dollars in taxes and onerous regulations each year, or the abuse of logic and intentionally vague weasel-words (such as needâ and fairâ) to justify it. So Smith, far from concluding that government spending is too timid and its corresponding burdens too low, would contradict the charlatans making such claims, and go far in the other direction, rejecting as indefensible the vast majority of what the government already does.
"The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state." ... "The rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion"..."Every tax, however, is, to the person who pays it, a badge, not of slavery, but of liberty."
It is not just an honor to pay taxes, it is a patriotic obligation. Only ungrateful and scurrilous freeloaders would even consider not contributing their fair dues to the support of a system that brings such an incredible wealth of value to its citizenry. It might be seen as bordering on treason to even contemplate, much less to conspire with others, to minimize one's obligations. I tend to consider it an expression of greed, inspired by the character flaw of avarice.[/QUOTE]
