By Bob McClure, JMI President & CEOThe French philosopher Frederic Bastiat wrote in his classic book about the requirements of a just society: “If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind.”Nearly 160 years later the eerie relevance of Bastiat’s words cast a massive shadow. We are being told today that the government “has no interest” in running private enterprise and yet the list of industries under attack by an overzealous federal government are too numerous to name here.The natural outgrowth of watching central command governmental officials at all levels try to become more and more involved in our daily lives has been the nature of the various tea parties and townhall meetings. These are not organized groups set to favor one party over another. Instead they are citizens of all ages, races and parties who have simply had enough. By commanding majorities, the American people oppose an overreaching, arrogant government seeking to run their lives.If you see nothing else in this our new website and now our new blog, I hope you will see optimism. Thousands of Floridians across the state as well as the state’s oldest and largest think tank, The James Madison Institute, are working tirelessly to defend liberty. More importantly, these efforts are making a genuine difference when weeks ago, it seemed stark. Don’t give up and don’t stop fighting.Visit us often. Contribute to this blog in the name of liberty … and let us go forward together in defense of the freedoms that have made this country the greatest nation on earth.
