Excerpts from the Editorials of R.C. Hoiles
(R.C. Hoiles is difficult to fit into any modern political category, but as with any writer, it is best to start with reading the man himself, rather than just what other people have written about him. He often said that his editorial policies were based on the Golden Rule, the Ten Commandments, and the Declaration of Independence. Here are some excerpts from his early editorials.)
“The individual, under socialism, instead of developing, becomes more and more like a bossed animal.” (December 28, 1938)
“[T]he socialistic scheme stifles the character and judgment of the individual; and what he does not use, he loses.” (December 28, 1938)
“A man is a true liberal … when he consistently advocates and practices the law of equal freedom.” (October 15, 1940)
“Those who want to be the agents of others, to take from one and give to another, are not liberals at all, as they claim.” (October 15, 1940)
“All democracies in the past have gone to pieces by the same route – those in power bribing the electorate.” (November 11, 1940)
“Government is force. That is the reason government should be very limited.” (April 5, 1941)
“Democracy and Christianity are based on the personality of the individual and that the majority … has no right to interfere with these rugged individuals’ rights.” (January 25, 1941)
“It is because too many people believe there are no eternal truths, no ever-lasting, unchangeable principles – in short no God – … that we have retarded our progress….” (January 3, 1942)
“If there be no immutable principles … then there can be nothing but laws established by force and compulsion. In short, there can be nothing but anarchy.” (January 3, 1942)
“If I as an individual have no right to do to another as I would not have another do to me, then a bare majority has no right to do to the minority what the bare majority would not want the minority to do to them.” (May 5, 1942)
“If tolerance is to survive, it must have limits. If we are tolerant of people who are trying to destroy freedom and liberty, we are likely to become their serfs.” (June 5, 1943)
“[T]he price of liberty is intolerance to the interference by the state or by others of man’s inherent, natural freedom and liberty.” (June 5, 1943)
“Communists certainly should not be permitted to accept a job in a government that is supposed to stand for equality before the law … when the Communists do not believe in this principle.” (June 19, 1943)
“A man who accepts pay from a government that he would destroy is guilty of a crime just as a spy in war times is a criminal.” (June 19, 1943)
“We must realize that most governments are destroyed not from enemies without but from enemies within.” (June 19, 1943)
“Under a planned economy, where the government officials control production, there is no quick way for the voters to correct their errors.” (September 6, 1943)
“The way to reform government is to get the individuals to understand the things that belong to Caesar and the things that belong to God.” (September 18, 1943)
“A really good government is a government under which people are permitted to take risks of loss.” (December 27, 1943)
“The minute we grant the state this power to compel a man to do something against his will … we begin to have a dictatorial form of government.” (January 22, 1944)
“When a justice of the supreme court contends that plain statues need not mean what they say, it is hard to conceive how we could have a government with the consent of elected representatives.” (April 15, 1944)
“To the degree a man does not get all he produces, or does not have the right to give it away, to that degree he is a slave.” (April 27, 1944)
“The only explanation for a publisher running some columnists advocating collectivism and force and others advocating a government with the consent of all the governed is that the publisher himself does not recognize contradictions, or he is a publisher who has no principles.” (August 26, 1944)
“[T]he broad path that leads to juvenile delinquency begins with the parents’ belief that they are not morally obligated to train, educate and support their offspring….” (October 21, 1944)
“[M]ost of our laws intended to be helpful to those arousing our sympathy, instead of helping them, in the long run further impoverish them.” (July 15, 1944)
“It is impossible for any government to be both just and benevolent.” (March 2, 1946)
“I think the most important part of any education is teaching people to have respect for others and to consider the dignity of every other human being.” (April 27, 1946)
“The youth’s moral sense … cannot be stimulated by coming in contact with teachers who believe there is no moral law superior to the will of the majority.” (April 27, 1946)