One of the great weaknesses of standard libertarian theory is that it tends to push too hard by elevating presumptions into absolutes.

When you are young in this world, you believe that the class of deductive truths about social matters is larger than it turns out to be. [...] I have discovered, to my infinite regret, that most of the serious debates over the basic principles of any political order have an irreducible empirical content.

America's greatness is due in no small measure to our system of government, in which power and authority are deliberately divided. The separation of powers is not a mere technicality. It is the centerpiece of our Constitution. Our freedoms depend upon it in the future, just as they have in the past.

At bottom are only two pure forms of legislation - productive and redistributive.

The protection of private property does more than promote market efficiency it enhances the level of human freedom in the most intimate and personal parts of our lives.

If I have a right to a job, education, health care or a house, then I must be able to specify the person or persons who owe me any or all of these things.