Just three posts ago, I took Harry Browne to task for his comments on 9/11. Of course, most of his remarks on domestic politics were still very much accurate, and it is with sadness that I look upon his recent passing.
Back in 1996, when the Republican Party took control of U.S. Congress and promised to shrink government, Browne accurately predicted that the party would fail to follow through:
...Republicans are moving in the wrong direction -- voting to enlarge the government by $45 billion a year for the next seven years, to raise the minimum wage, to censor the Internet, to take away more civil liberties in the guise of fighting terrorism, to drive the health insurance companies out of business with oppressive new regulations. This may be incremental change, but it's change in the wrong direction [emphasis addded].
What Browne said about taking away civil liberties in the fight against terrorism was particularly prescient since it was ten years ago.
