You Can Quote Me, Part 5
24 aphorisms, witticisms, and observations from May 2025
WARNING: I'm a libertarian. Some of what I write below may offend the Left, the Right, or both. But as Walt Whitman asked, "Who are you who only wants to be told what you've heard before?"
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I reserve my First Amendment right to advocate things that are none of my business.
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I think libertarian virtue signalling is a thing, and not a good one
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My libertarian dick is bigger than yours. I not only favor abolition, I'm building a time machine to abolish The State yesterday.
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We say dubious things "seem fishy." That says all you need to know about eating fish.
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I've decided to adopt the Elizabethan version of "What's up?" To wit..."How now peeps?"
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Only one country in the history of the world has been expected to provide food, water, and power to its enemies.
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My deep personal commitment to numerology forces me to only listen to every seventh thing you say.
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We libertarians should stop fighting over our small differences until we've enacted our large agreements.
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India & Pakistan have atomic bombs, not hydrogen bombs. The difference matters.
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When people ask me how I am, I say, "Mostly okay, but my seasonal cancer is acting up."
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Much confusion about Israel-Palestine is caused by failing to appreciate the difference between sovereignty and property rights.
A property right is when you own something. Sovereignty is when you get to make the laws in a specific geographical area. Sovereignty can change repeatedly without affecting property rights at all. A new entity can gain sovereignty in an area without taking anyone's land.
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I've been right so often when the politicians were wrong, they really ought to call me before they do anything.
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Sunni are murdering Druze in Syria. Israel is defending the Druze. I'm sure Israel will be accused of genocide because of this.
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You would never say you were in deficit because you made a deal that satisfied you.
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To earn more you must convince your boss that you're worth more, but when cheap foreign labor lowers your cost of living you don't have to convince anyone of shit. You get the benefit without the need for effort or persuasion. All things being equal, we should prefer a lower cost of living to a higher wage.
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I notice how people inject their assumptions into what I say, and then guard myself against doing the same to others.
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It's illustrative of the human condition that so many libertarians favor Palestinian statism. I was once one of them.
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You must be patient when promoting a new idea, because everyone is where you were before you figured it out.
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I don't promote Israeli statism. I oppose Palestinian statism. Show me a button for a zero state solution, and I will push it.
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If a policy increases initiated force, oppose it; if it decreases initiated force, support it.
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I advocate the pure voluntaryist end goal while seeking and supporting interim measures to move in that direction.
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Alliances caused WW1. NATO probably protected small countries from Russia. Tools tend to be both helpful and dangerous.
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The slogan "Free Palestine" is oxymoronic. There wouldn't be anything free about it.
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The ability to easily admit error is a superpower.
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Copyright © Perry Willis 2025
Perry Willis is the co-founder of Downsize DC and the Zero Aggression Project. He co-created, with Jim Babka, the Read the Bills Act, the One Subject at a Time Act, and the Write the Laws Act, all of which have been introduced in Congress. He is a past Executive Director of the national Libertarian Party and was the campaign manager for Harry Browne for President in 2000.