Walter Williams

Walter E. Williams is a libertarian economist, columnist, author, and professor at George Mason University. He has made frequent radio and television appearances and is a substitute host for the Rush Limbaugh show. Besides economics, Williams often writes and speaks about race, climate histeria, liberal acedemia, and excess government intrusion into private life.

Pat Buchanan describes Williams's views:

• "We often hear the claim that our nation is a democracy," writes columnist Dr. Walter Williams. But, "That wasn't the vision of the founders. They saw democracy as another form of tyranny. … The founders intended, and laid out the ground rules for, our nation to be a republic. … The word democracy appears nowhere in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution."

• Indeed, the Constitution guarantees "to every State in this Union a republican form of government."

• Asks Williams: "Does our pledge of allegiance to the flag say to 'the democracy for which it stands,' or does it say to 'the republic for which it stands'? Or do we sing 'The Battle Hymn of the Democracy' or 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic'?"

• There is a critical difference between a republic and a democracy, Williams notes, citing our second president: "John Adams captured the essence of that difference when he said: 'You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the Universe.' Nothing in our Constitution suggests that government is a grantor of rights. Instead, government is a protector of rights." [1]

Quotations

• "The framers gave us the Second Amendment not so we could go deer or duck hunting but to give us a modicum of protection against congressional tyranny."
• "A panhandler is far more moral than corporate welfare queens....The panhandler doesn't enlist anyone to force you to give him money. He's coming up to you and saying, "Will you help me out?" The farmers, when they want subsidies, they're not asking for a voluntary transaction. They go to a congressman and say, "Could you take his money and give it to us?" That's immoral."
• "Sometimes the advocates of socialized medicine claim that health care is too important to be left to the market. That's why some politicians are calling for us to adopt health care systems such as those in Canada, the United Kingdom and other European nations. But the suggestion that we'd be better served with more government control doesn't even pass a simple smell test."

External Links

• Walter Williams Homepage at GMU
• Economics for the Common Citizen