Special Statements

Updated January 18, 2026

Off on a Tangent special statements express Scott Bradford’s standing public position on a policy, organization, topic, or cause.

One standing statement describes the issue buttons that appear at the bottom of the website. Other statements are also collected on this page. Past statements that have been rescinded are archived for historic purposes.

On the Tangent Web Buttons

Current Statements

The following special statements are currently in effect. They are listed in order of adoption.

On the 2013 Virginia Attorney General Race
- Adopted December 18, 2013
- Updated December 26, 2025

On the National Rifle Association
- Adopted July 8, 2019
- Updated February 22, 2025

On the 2020 Presidential Race in Pennsylvania
- Adopted November 21, 2020
- Updated December 26, 2025

On WordPress
- Adopted February 22, 2025

On Planets and Moons
- Adopted August 8, 2025

On the 2020 Presidential Race in Georgia
- Adopted December 26, 2025

Rescinded Statements

The following special statements have been rescinded and are no longer in effect. They are listed in order of rescission.

(none so far)

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.

Quotes

It upsets women to be, or not to be, stared at hungrily.

Mignon McLaughlin

I think perhaps of all the things a police state can do to its citizens, distorting history is possibly the most pernicious.

Robert A. Heinlein

Freedom is only necessity understood.

William James

For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another.

Paul the Apostle

You only live twice: Once when you are born, and once when you look death in the face.

Ian Fleming

If you want to read a perfect book there is only one way: Write it.

Ambrose Bierce

The possession of arms is the distinction between a freeman and a slave.

James Burgh

When war is continuous there is no such thing as military necessity.

George Orwell

The transformation of the world is brought about by the transformation of oneself.

Jiddu Krishnamurti

The members of a society who in all respects are made to do the good thing have no title to praise.

Friedrich Hayek

There is no such thing as success in a bad business.

Elbert Hubbard

It is as foolish to reject the senses because they sometimes seem to deceive us as it is to reject mathematics because we sometimes make mistakes in our checkbooks.

Scott Hahn

And he who lives a hundred years, ignorant and unrestrained, a life of one day is better if a man is wise and reflecting.

Siddhartha Gautama

Pride grows in the human heart like lard on a pig.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

I don’t believe anything, but I have many suspicions.

Robert Anton Wilson

[The Democrats now] defend every federal program as if each were sacred. They have become the most conservative force in American politics.

Thomas Friedman

A tax . . . signifies an exaction for the support of the Government. The word has never been thought to connote the expropriation of money from one group for the benefit of another.

Owen Roberts

One of the most ridiculous defenses of foreign aid is that it is a very small part of our national income. If the average American set fire to a five-dollar bill, it would be an even smaller percentage of his annual income. But everyone would consider him foolish for doing it.

Thomas Sowell

I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world because they’d never expect it.

Jack Handey

You’ve got to be optimist to be a Democrat, and you’ve got to be a humorist to stay one.

Will Rogers