Negative Liberty Quotes

“What does the negative libertarian escape to? Normally, it’s pure self-indulgence, hedonism, the pursuit of instant gratification. His life outside work is about dumbed-down entertainment, video games, sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, alcohol, fantasy, escapism, relaxation, laziness, food and drink, chillaxing and “downtime”. But none of these things are enduringly satisfying. They are not sacred causes. They are not the meaning of life. That’s why all negative libertarians are sad, depressed, anxious, tormented individuals, crushingly alone and fearful. They are desperate to distract themselves from their lives because their lives are so miserable. Self-indulgence – the cult of yourself and your own pleasure and self-obsession – is never satisfying. You always need something higher than yourself, bigger than yourself, something for which you will sacrifice yourself, something that will curb your insatiable Id.”
― Joe Dixon, The Liberty Wars: The Trump Time Bomb

“When you see someone attacking Plato – and many people do – you should understand that these people are defenders of psychopathy (especially of unrestricted libertarianism, a psychopath’s dream). They hate Plato and accuse him of being a totalitarian and fascist. Why? Because he was prepared to use the awesome power of the State to ensure that undesirables did not prosper, and certainly didn’t get to the top of society. All the opponents of Plato are extremist anti-Statists, whether they are anarchists, libertarians, predatory capitalists, free marketeers, liberals, or whatever. They are terrified of a designed, engineered society where the benevolent, wise State seeks to create the optimized State, and where psychos don’t get to weave their webs.”
― David Sinclair, The Wolf Tamers: How They Made the Strong Weak

“People endorse negative liberty - the individual free of the State - and hate positive liberty - the individual harnessed by the State.”
― Steve Madison, The Quality Agenda: The Search for Excellence

“It’s time to transform the world. Only positive liberty can produce the necessary alchemy. Why should humanity be content with being free from interference? Why doesn’t it want to become something wondrous? How do you become a god? By being left alone, left to your own devices? Or do you become a god when the State invests everything in you, and provides the framework, the machinery, for producing gods? The State can make you a god. You cannot make yourself a god. There are no gods on desert islands. It’s time to trust the State. It’s time to allow the State to engineer your metamorphosis. It’s time to become what you truly are … an authentic god.”
― Joe Dixon, The Liberty Wars: The Trump Time Bomb

“Positive liberty is about being free for something, i.e. your freedom is not expressed in opposition to the potential constraints and restraints placed on you by others, but, rather, is expressed through cooperation with others in order to produce a better humanity and better world. In other words, negative liberty is about “Leave me alone to pursue my selfish life in my own selfish way, according to my own selfish and narcissistic beliefs”, while positive liberty is about “Let’s find the ways through which we can make life better for us all.”
― Michael Faust, The Case for Meritocracy