Government and Laws: Ayn Rand on Power and Control

„There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for me to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed or enforced nor objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of law-breakers - and then you cash in on guilt.“

Ayn RandAyn Rand's critique of state power control through arbitrary laws and their instrumentalization for citizen control.

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Ayn Rand was a Russian-American philosopher and writer known for her philosophy of Objectivism.

Critical reflection on state power systems and the instrumentalization of law. Rand argues that arbitrary and opaque laws function as control mechanisms, leading to systematic criminalization of innocent citizens.

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Ayn Rand (1905–1982) was a Russian-born American novelist and philosopher best known for her novels "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead." She developed the philosophy of Objectivism, which emphasizes reason, individualism, and capitalism as moral ideals.

Ayn Rand quote about government, crime, and the creation of laws

7. August 2025

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"The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws." Ayn Rand

Quote by Ludwig von Mises on the state's use of coercion to enforce laws

1. February 2026

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"The state subjugates, imprisons, and kills. People tend to forget this because law-abiding citizens submit to the authority of the government without complaint in order to avoid punishment. But lawyers are more realistic and call a law that cannot be enforced by coercion an imperfect law. The authority of man-made laws rests entirely on the weapons of the police, who enforce obedience to their regulations" Ludwig von Mises

Quote on government as a broker in pillage by Henry Louis Mencken

23. February 2026

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"The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device to that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for something they can't get and to promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten that promise is worth nothing. The tenth time is made good by looting A to satisfy B. In other words, government is a broker in pillage, and every election is sort of an advance auction sale of stolen goods." Henry Louis Mencken