In my latest National Post column I express the desire that Erin O’Toole base policy on principles and explain it in terms of them.

“The process of social life is a function of so many variables many of which are not amenable to anything like measurement that even mere diagnosis of a given state of things becomes a doubtful matter quite apart from the formidable sources of error that open up as soon as we attempt prognosis. These difficulties should not be exaggerated, however. We shall see that the dominant traits of the picture clearly support certain inferences which, whatever the qualifications that have to be added, are too strong to be neglected on the ground that they cannot be proved in the sense in which a proposition of Euclid’s can.”

Joseph Schumpeter Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy

“There is such a thing [as human nature], and it is not entirely tractable. Its most ominous elements are a deep vein of violence, perhaps attendant on a too-great sense of fright; a weakly developed capacity for material satisfaction, perhaps also partly due to that same sense of fright; a tendency to misjudge the difficulties of life as difficulties arising from a specified cause; and a sort of affectional inertia that puts a drag on generosity outside of a small circle of friends and kin.”

Melvin Konner The Tangled Wing: Biological constraints on the human spirit

“the observable phenomenon that trees don’t grow to the sky.”

John Dizard (“Gekko”) in National Review June 2, 1997 on the perils of projecting trends forward

Recently I had a chat with Rod Taylor and Peter Vogel of the CHP on Canada’s true history, an inspiring tale of freedom defended and entrenched over centuries. If you doubt it, I invite you to watch my documentaries.

You can find other links here (Brighteon) and here (YouTube).

“Milton Friedman: … There’s a phrase written on the entrance to one of the social sciences buildings at the University of Chicago, which is the statement … Rose Friedman: If you can’t measure it, measure it anyway. Milton Friedman: Actually, it was: ‘When you cannot measure something, your knowledge is meager and unsatisfying.’”

An Economic Freedom of the World network meeting in 2001, quoted in Fraser Forum May 2002.