 Quote > The greatest dangers to liberty lurk ...The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding. Continued at top
Owned by Unordained - Created on 11/16/2005 - Never edited 12/25/06 :: Folder :: Government & Politics11/01/05 :: Folder :: Freedom & Responsibility 08/01/05 :: Quote :: Thomas JeffersonThe care of every man's soul belongs to himself. But what if he neglect the care of it? Well what if he neglect the care of his health or his estate, which would more nearly relate to the state. Will the magistrate make a law that he not be poor or sick? Laws provide against injury from others; but not from ourselves. God himself will not save men against their wills. 05/12/06 :: Quote :: Patrick Henry [disputed]Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! 05/12/06 :: Quote :: AristotleA tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side. 05/12/06 :: Quote :: Patrick HenryThe liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.  09/29/05 :: Quote :: Robert H. Jackson, US Supreme Court JusticeThe very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One's right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submi [...] 08/26/07 :: Article :: Support the troops! :: Opposing a war is more difficult than it sounds07/31/08 :: Quote :: HL MenckenThe trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all. 05/12/06 :: Quote :: Victor HugoWhen dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right. 05/12/06 :: Quote :: Patrick HenryThe Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests. 05/12/06 :: Quote :: Woodrow WilsonLiberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance.  10/31/07 :: Article :: On education :: Teaching, testing, certifying09/10/04 :: Reference :: (link) :: Political Compass06/09/05 :: Quote :: Frederick DouglassIf there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggl [...] 02/01/04 :: Reference :: (link) :: Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations) 10/07/04 :: Article :: The Election :: Are we sick of the candidates yet?09/04/03 :: Quote :: O'RourkeIf government were a product, selling it would be illegal. 09/04/03 :: Quote :: Adolf Hitler (disputed)What luck for the rulers that men do not think! 08/29/08 :: Quote :: Harry S TrumanWhenever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship. 08/26/05 :: Reference :: (link) :: Inside Ronald Reagan08/22/06 :: Quote :: John Stuart MillIf mankind minus one were of one opinion, then mankind is no more justified in silencing the one than the one - if he had the power - would be justified in silencing mankind. 08/01/05 :: Quote :: Thomas JeffersonSometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question. 07/31/05 :: Quote :: Thomas JeffersonYet it is easy to foresee, from the nature of things, that the encroachments of the State governments will tend to an excess of liberty which will correct itself, while those of the General Government will tend to monarchy, which will fortify itself from day to day. 07/31/05 :: Quote :: Thomas JeffersonI would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it. 07/08/05 :: Quote :: GhandiI believe that no government can exist for a single moment without the co-operation of the people, willing or forced, and if people suddenly withdraw their co-operation in every detail, the government will come to a standstill. 07/05/03 :: Reference :: (link) :: U.S. Republican Party Platform (2000)07/05/03 :: Reference :: (link) :: U.S. Green Party Platform (current)07/05/03 :: Reference :: (link) :: U.S. Democratic Party Platform (2000) 06/02/04 :: Quote :: Lao-TzuA leader is best when people barely know that he exists.
Less good when they obey and acclaim him.
Worse when they fear and despise him.
Fail to honor people, and they fail to honor you.
But of a good leader, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled,
they will say, "We did this ourselves."
05/30/05 :: Reference :: (link) :: U.S. Libertarian Platform (current)05/12/06 :: Quote :: Patrick Henry [disputed]I know not what course others make take, but as for me: give me Liberty, or give me death. 05/12/06 :: Quote :: George Bernard ShawLiberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. 05/12/06 :: Quote :: John F. KennedyLet every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. 05/12/06 :: Quote :: Patrick HenryGuard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. 04/18/04 :: Quote :: Henry Stimson (Secretary of State)... gentlemen do not read each other's mail. 04/07/04 :: Quote :: Theodore RooseveltTo announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or anyone else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else. 02/25/07 :: Quote :: Bertrand RussellThere is no nonsense so errant that it cannot be made the creed of the vast majority by adequate governmental action. 02/10/07 :: Quote :: Sir Francis BaconSilence is the virtue of fools. 02/07/08 :: Quote :: C.P. SnowWhen you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion. 02/05/04 :: Article :: An Ounce of Prevention :: What if The People don't want to do what is good for them?01/28/08 :: Quote :: Hannah ArendtThe most radical revolutionary will become a conservative the day after the revolution. 01/28/05 :: Quote :: Frederick DouglassNo man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck. 01/24/05 :: Quote :: Charles de GaulleThe graveyards are full of indispensable men. 01/22/04 :: Article :: The Real Voodoo :: The Recession argument is conducted poorly01/08/06 :: Reference :: (link) :: UK report upcoming on psychosis effects of cannabis (pot) 09/04/03 :: Quote :: George OrwellIf liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. 12/15/03 :: Reference :: (link) :: Criminalizing Motherhood 12/01/03 :: Quote :: Abraham Lincoln
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness o [...] 11/23/05 :: Quote :: Henry David ThoreauAny fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it. 11/23/03 :: Reference :: (link) :: Guerrilla News Network11/13/03 :: Quote :: Michael PaineAn important art of politicians is to find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the public. 10/18/04 :: Article :: The problem with Conservatives and Liberals :: A bizarre thought I had to get down on paper10/09/03 :: Reference :: (link) :: Two Civilized Men Among the Barbarians10/07/05 :: Quote :: Thomas JeffersonThe will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object. 10/03/05 :: Quote :: Henry KissingerWe must learn to distinguish morality from moralizing. 10/03/05 :: Quote :: John MiltonHere the great art lies, to discern in what the law is to be to restraint and
punishment, and in what things persuasion only is to work.
09/30/05 :: Quote :: Thomas JeffersonWe are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a feather bed. 09/04/03 :: Quote :: O'RourkeOne of the annoying things about believing in free will and individual responsibility is the difficulty of finding somebody to blame your problems on. And when you do find somebody, it's remarkable how often his picture turns up on your driver's license. 09/04/03 :: Quote :: Richard Kerry (R-Florida)I think that the free-enterprise system is absolutely too important to be left to the voluntary action of the marketplace. 09/04/03 :: Quote :: Arthur C. ClarkeYou can't have it both ways. You can't have both free will and a benevolent higher power who protects you from yourself. 09/04/03 :: Quote :: SupertrampNow watch what you say
They'll be calling you a radical, liberal,
Fanatical, criminal.
Won't you sign up your name?
We'd like to feel you're acceptable, respectable,
Presentable, a vegetable. 09/04/03 :: Quote :: Napoleon BonaparteTen people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent. 09/04/03 :: Quote :: Søren KierkegaardPeople demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid. 08/04/05 :: Quote :: Benjamin FranklinIn these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, [...] 08/01/05 :: Quote :: Thomas JeffersonEnlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day. 07/24/03 :: Reference :: (link) :: The Future Begins Now07/24/03 :: Reference :: (link) :: Ghost In The Machine07/05/03 :: Reference :: (link) :: Issues2000.org07/02/03 :: Reference :: (link) :: U.S. missile strike kills al Qaeda chief07/02/03 :: Reference :: (link) :: Bush Slow to OK Drones in Bin Laden Hunt07/02/03 :: Reference :: (link) :: United States divorce statistics07/02/03 :: Reference :: (link) :: World-wide divorce statistics05/12/06 :: Quote :: Samuel AdamsIf ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. 05/07/04 :: Article :: Beware the demonizers :: How to spot crap on sight03/15/05 :: Quote :: Oscar AmeringerPolitics -- the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich by promising to protect each from the other. 02/25/07 :: Quote :: Bertrand RussellMost people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so. 02/19/04 :: Article :: Minority Report :: Conflict of interest in the Minority Party01/14/05 :: Quote :: Thomas JeffersonIt is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. 01/05/04 :: Quote :: Hermann Goering, Nazi Reichsmarshall and Luftwaffe-Chief (Hitler's right-hand man)We got around to the subject of war again and I said that, contrary to his attitude, I did not think that the common people are very thankful for leaders who bring them war and destruction.
"Why, of course, the people don't want war," Goering shrugged. "Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one pie [...]  06/29/04 :: Article :: Freedom and Authority :: Shedding light on America's political system02/16/04 :: Article :: Memogate :: Ready the black helicopters02/12/04 :: Article :: Boobygate :: New and improved! Now easier to skim and ignore!! 12/20/06 :: Reference :: (link) :: Political Movie Ratings11/22/03 :: Reference :: (link) :: The 9/11 Cover-up11/08/06 :: Quote :: Thomas JeffersonIn matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.  11/06/05 :: Article :: Why should christians be surprised? :: 10/31/03 :: Reference :: (link) :: Top Israeli Officer Says Tactics Are Backfiring10/10/04 :: Article :: Trouble in Sudan :: Election year and the lack of interest in Third World problems09/29/05 :: Quote :: Robert FrostA civilized society is one which tolerates eccentricity to the point of doubtful sanity. 09/04/03 :: Quote :: Winston ChurchillThe best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. 08/01/05 :: Quote :: Thomas JeffersonThe spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere.
[I rarely see the second part quoted, but I think it's important to realize that Jefferson knew the implications of wha [...] 07/29/03 :: Article :: Shouting "Fire!" in a Crowded Room :: An attack on propaganda and on anti-propaganda propaganda07/24/05 :: Quote :: Gaius Helen MohiamA world is supported by four things ... the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the righteous and the valor of the brave. But all of these are as nothing ... without a ruler who knows the art of ruling. Make that the science of your tradition! 07/15/05 :: Article :: Catch the terror :: T-shirt idea06/22/05 :: Quote :: Dune, by Frank Herberthe fell into the floating awareness . . . focusing the consciousness . . . aortal dilation . . . avoiding the unfocused mechanism of consciousness . . . to be conscious by choice . . . blood enriched and swift-flooding the overload regions . . . one does not obtain food-safety-freedom by instinct alone . . . animal consciousness does not extend beyond the given moment nor into the idea that its vi [...] 04/26/07 :: Quote :: Albert EinsteinThe significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them. 04/07/04 :: Article :: What are we electing? :: Representatives, whether local or national, are an interesting thing.03/15/07 :: Quote :: O'RourkeWhen buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators. 03/03/04 :: Reference :: (link) :: U.S.-Sponsored Regime Change in Haiti02/22/04 :: Reference :: (link) :: Election Selection02/01/04 :: Reference :: (link) :: Privacy and Deviance01/26/05 :: Article :: Second Amendment :: (to the constitution of the United States of America, that is)01/21/05 :: Quote :: Dale HancheyEvery government, once established, becomes oppressive. 01/17/05 :: Reference :: (link) :: Jon Stewart on Crossfire01/14/04 :: Reference :: (link) :: Thrifty spenders |
