From Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Democracy: The God that Failed (paperback, p. 30):

“[T]he mere act of legislating . . . increases the degree of uncertainty. Rather han being immutable and hence predictable, law becomes increasingly flexible and predictable. What is right and wrong today may not be so tomorrow. The future is thus rendered more haphazard. Consequently, all-around time-preference degrees will rise, consumption and short-term orientation will be stimulated, and at the same time the respect for all laws will be systematically undermined . . . . there will be less productive activity, self-reliance and future-orientation, and more consumption, parasitism, dependency and shortsightedness.”

And from Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (p. 16):

“The liberal in the original sense — the person who gives primacy to freedom and believes in limited government — tends to take the long view, to put major emphasis on the ultimate nd permanent consequences of policies rather than on the immediate and possible transitory consequences. The modern liberal — the person who gives primacy to welfare and believes in greater governmental control — tends to take the short view, to put primary emphasis on the immediate effects of policy measures.This connection is one of reciprocal cause and effect. The man who hs a short time perspective will be impatient with theslow workings of voluntary arrangements in producing changes in institutions. He will want to achieve changes at once, which requires centralized authority that can override objections. Hence he will be disposed to favor a greater role for government. But conversely, the man who favors a greater role for government will thereby be disposed to have a shorter time preference . . . . he will have a short time perspective because the political process demands it.

The Best of Thomas DiLorenzo