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[T]o consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions ...
would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy..
~ Thomas Jefferson ~ (1743-1826)
US Founding Father, drafted the Declaration of Independence, 3rd US President
Source.. Letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
The error seems not sufficiently eradicated
that the operations of the mind, as well as the acts of the body, are subject to the coercion of the laws
But our rulers can have authority over such natural rights only as we have submitted to them
The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit
We are answerable for them to our God
The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others
... Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now
Thus in France the emetic was once forbidden as a medicine, and the potato as an article of food..
~ Thomas Jefferson ~ (1743-1826)
US Founding Father, drafted the Declaration of Independence, 3rd US President
Source.. Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, Query XVII (1781-1785)
'Extremism' is a word deliberately chosen for its vagueness and used by intellectual slobs who are too desperate, sneaky or lazy to say exactly what they mean
Its only purpose is to deliberately try to confuse the difference between people who are extremely good
(usually because of devotion to their principles) with people who are extremely bad
The sleazeballs who use this supposedly scary, yet undefined word are not only trying to smear people of conviction and integrity,
but they're also trying to divert attention away from the fact that they are obviously not people of principle themselves..
~ Rick Gaber ~
Libertarian writer
I think that prohibition of drugs is the most immoral program that the United States has ever engaged in
It's destroyed civil rights at home and it is responsible for thousands of deaths abroad..
~ Milton Friedman ~ (1912-2006)
Nobel Prize-winning economist, economic advisor to President Ronald Reagan, "ultimate guru of the free-market system"
A prohibition law strikes a blow
at the very principles upon which
our government was founded..
~ Abraham Lincoln ~ (1809-1865)
16th US President
Totalitarianism begins in contempt for what you have
The second step is the notion:
“Things must change no matter how, Anything is better than what we have”
Totalitarian rulers organize this kind of mass sentiment, and by organizing it articulate it, and by articulating it make the people somehow love it
They were told before, thou shalt not kill; and they didn’t kill
Now they are told, thou shalt kill; and although they think it’s very difficult to kill, they do it because it's now part of the code of behavior
They learn whom to kill and how to kill and how to do it together
This is the much talked about Gleichschaltung — the coordination process
You are coordinated not with the powers that be, but with your neighbor — coordinated with the majority
But instead of communicating with the other you are now glued to him
And you feel of course marvelous
Totalitarianism appeals to the very dangerous emotional needs of people who live in complete isolation
And in fear of one another..
~ Hannah Arendt ~ (1906-1975)
German-American political theorist, escaped Nazi Germany
Source.. 'Hannah Arendt: From an Interview' Comments made in 1974 during an interview with the French writer Roger Errera and published in October 26, 1978 issue of The New York Review of Books Interview..
Replies to quote:
To understand the present, one must study the past. Look to the Weimer Republic to understand what is happening in the 21st century.
"A house divided against itself cannot stand"
Mark 3:25
~ Lucille A. Petillo, Ocean, NJ ~
Explains the right-left paradigm perfectly, and the de facto fascism that has taken over the US political system. It also explains terrorism and the motivations of lone wolf suicide bombers. Mass delusion is a requirement of totalitarianism -- and the ruling class has been perfecting their craft for millennia. Chances are YOU have already been conditioned to accept doing wrong for the 'common good' as OK -- it isn't! Never was, never will be.
~ E Archer, NYC ~
But what do we mean by the American Revolution?
Do we mean the American war?
The Revolution was effected before the war commenced
The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations…
This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people
was the real American Revolution..
~ John Adams ~ (1735-1826)
Founding Father, 2nd US President
Source: letter to H. Niles, February 13, 1818
Forgive your enemies
but never forget their names..
~ John F. Kennedy ~
Life is rented
It's what one makes of one's self
While time is being
That looks you in the eye..
That only the blind
can see..
"The human mind has never invented a labor-saving machine equal to algebra." ~Author Unknown
There is nothing more difficult to plan
more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage
than the creation of a new order of things
… Whenever his enemies have occasion to attack the innovator
they do so with the passion of partisans
while the others defend him sluggishly
so that the innovator and his party alike are vulnerable..
~ Niccolo Machiavelli ~
Freedom is never more than one generation away
from extinction..
~ Ronald Reagan ~
The cultivation -- even celebration -- of victimhood
by intellectuals, tort lawyers, politicians and the media
is both cause and effect of today's culture of complaint..
~ George Will ~ (1941-)
American newspaper columnist, journalist, and author
Believe me, it is not failing to speak out with promptitude and energy that is the matter with you;
it is having nothing consistent or valuable to say..
~ Matthew Arnold ~ (1822-1887)
“I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7378236-i-come-into-the-peace-of-wild-things-who-do
It’s only when the tide goes out
that you learn who’s been swimming naked..
~ Warren Buffett ~
Source.. Investment Philosophy, roger wilco
Few quotes have as many different perspectives
With the same impact..
Always stand on principle
even if you stand alone..
~ John Quincy Adams ~ (1767-1848)
6th US President
No good government but what is republican
the very definition of a republic is
'an empire of laws, and not of men..'
~ John Adams ~ (1735-1826)
Founding Father, 2nd US President
Source.. "Thoughts on Government" January, 1776
I would rather starve and rot
and keep the privilege of speaking the truth as I see it
than of holding all the offices that capital has to give
from the presidency down..
~ Henry Brooks Adams ~ (1838-1918)
Pulitzer prize-winning historian (1919), great-grandson of John Adams, grandson of John Quincy Adams, and son of US Secretary of State, Charles Adams
Source.. The Degradation of the Democratic Dogma, 1919
Freedom is the right to question and change
the established way of doing things
It is the continuous revolution of the marketplace
It is the understanding that allows us to recognize shortcomings and seek solutions..
~ Ronald Reagan ~ (1911-2004)
40th US President
Source.. Address to students at Moscow State University, 05/31/88
A free press is not a privilege
but an organic necessity
in a great society..
~ Walter Lippmann ~ (1889-1974)
American writer, journalist, and political commentator
There is no such thing at this date
of the world's history in America as an independent press
You know it and I know it
There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions
and if you did
you know beforehand that it would never appear in print
I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinions out of the paper I am connected with
Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things
and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions
would be out on the streets looking for another job
If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper
before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone
The business of the journalists is to destroy the truth
to lie outright
to pervert
to vilify
to fawn at the feet of mammon
and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread
You know it and I know it and what folly is this toasting an independent press?
We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes
We are jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance
Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men
We are intellectual prostitutes..
~ John Swinton ~ (1829-1901)
Former Head of Editorial Staff for the New York Times
Was one of America's best loved newspapermen
Called by his peers "The Dean of his Profession" 1880, At a banquet in his honor..
Source.. Labor's Untold Story, by Richard O. Boyer and Herbert M. Morais, published by United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, NY, 1955/1979
It is the fundamental theory
of all the more recent American law...
that the average citizen is half-witted,
and hence not to be trusted
to either his own devices
or his own thoughts..
~ H. L. Mencken ~ (1880-1956)
American Journalist, Editor, Essayist, Linguist, Lexicographer, and Critic
For as long as one hundred of us shall remain alive,
we shall never in any wise consent submit to the rule of the English,
for it is not for glory we fight, nor riches, or for honour,
but for freedom alone,
which no good man loses but with his life..
~ Robert Bruce ~ (1274-1329)
[Robert I] King of Scots (1306-1329), known as Robert the Bruce
Source.. Declaration of Arbroath (April 6, 1320)
When a well-packaged web of lies
has been sold gradually to the masses over generations,
the truth will seem utterly preposterous
and its speaker a raving lunatic..
~ Dresden James ~ (1931-2008)
[Donald James Wheal] a British novelist and scriptwriter
Source.. Attributed
Civil Wars happen when the victimized are armed
Genocide happens when they are not..
~ A.E. Samaan ~
Fascism, communism and national socialism all share in common
the explicit premise that the individual must subordinate himself to society's needs,
or as Hitler would phrase it:
'Society's needs come before the individual needs..'
~ A. E. Samaan ~
Christian-Palestinian and Central American Hispanic author, artist, photographer
Source.. 'From a Race of Masters to a Master Race'
Freedom of the mind requires not only, or not even especially, the absence of legal constraints
but the presence of alternative thoughts
The most successful tyranny
is not the one that uses force to assure uniformity,
but the one that removes awareness of other possibilities..
~ Alan Bloom ~ (1930-1992)
Source.. The Closing of the American Mind, 1987
...I know not what treason is,
if sapping and betraying the liberties of a people
be not treason...
~ Cato ~
John Trenchard (1662-1723) & Thomas Gordon (169?-1750)
Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason?
For if it prosper,
none dare call it Treason..
~ Sir John Harrington ~ (1561-1612)
English courtier, wit, poet and satirist
Source.. Epigrams, Book iv. Ep. 5.
But if you say, you can still pass the violations over,
then I ask, hath your house been burnt?
Hath your property been destroyed before your face?
Are your wife and children destitute of a bed to lie on, or bread to live on?
Have you lost a parent or a child by their hands, and yourself the ruined and wretched survivor?
If you have not, then you are not a judge of those who have.
But if you have, and can still shake hands with the murderers,
then you are unworthy of the name of husband, father, friend, or lover,
and whatever may be your rank or title in life,
you have the heart of a coward and the spirit of a sycophant..
~ Thomas Paine ~ (1737-1809)
US Founding father, pamphleteer, author
Source.. Common Sense, 1776
To say that subjects in general are not proper judges (of the law)
when their governors oppress them and play the tyrant,
and when they defend their rights ...
is as great a treason as ever a man uttered
Tis treason not against one single man, but against the state - against the whole body politic;
tis treason against mankind;
tis treason against Common sense;
tis treason against God;
And this impious principle lays the foundation for justifying all the tyranny and oppression that ever any prince was guilty of
The people know for what end they set up and maintain their governors,
and they are the proper judges when governors execute their trust as they ought to do it..
~ Jonathan Mayhew ~ (1720-1766)
Founding Father, clergyman, minister
Orators are most vehement when they have the weakest cause,
as men get on horseback when they cannot walk..
~ Cicero ~
Why suspend the habeas corpus in insurrections and rebellions?
Examine the history of England
See how few of the cases of the suspension of the habeas corpus law have been worthy of that suspension
They have been either real treasons, wherein the parties might as well have been charged at once,
or sham plots, where it was shameful they should ever have been suspected
Yet for the few cases wherein the suspension of the habeas corpus has done real good,
that operation is now become habitual
and the minds of the nation almost prepared to live under its constant suspension..
~ Thomas Jefferson ~ (1743-1826)
US Founding Father, drafted the Declaration of Independence, 3rd US President
Source.. letter to James Madison, 1788
Definition of 'habeas corpus':
A writ having for its object to bring a party before a court or judge; especially, one to inquire into the cause of a person's imprisonment or detention by another, with the view to protect the right to personal liberty.
The President of the United States would be liable to be impeached, tried, and upon conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors,
removed from office;
and would afterwards be liable to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law
The person of the King of Great Britain is sacred and inviolable:
There is no constitutional tribunal to which he is amenable,
no punishment to which he can be subjected
without involving the crisis of a national revolution..
~ Alexander Hamilton ~ (1757-1804)
Source.. Federalist #65
A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious
But it cannot survive treason from within
An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly
But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself
For the traitor appears not a traitor;
he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men
He rots the soul of a nation,
he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist
A murderer is less to fear
The traitor is the plague..
~ Marcus Tullius Cicero ~ (106-43 B.C.)
Roman Statesman, Philosopher and Orator
Source.. Attributed. 58 BC, Speech in the Roman Senate
To 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..
~ Theodore Roosevelt ~ (1858-1919)
26th US President
Treason against the United States
shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.
No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.
The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted..
~ Treason Clause ~
Source.. Treason Clause in the United States Constitution, Article III, Section 3, Clauses 1 and 2
The modern susceptibility to conformity and obedience to authority
indicates that the truth endorsed by authority
is likely to be accepted as such
by a majority of the people..
~ David Edwards ~
British columnist
Source.. Burning All Illusions, 1996
The main thing is to have a soul that loves the truth and harbours it where he finds it.
And another thing: truth requires constant repetition, because error is being preached about us all the time,
and not only by isolated individuals but by the masses.
In the newspapers and encyclopedias, in schools and universities,
everywhere error rides high and basks in the consciousness of having the majority on its side..
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ~ (1749-1832)
Persecution for opinion
is the master vice of society..
~ Frances Wright ~ (1795-1852)
Scottish-born lecturer, writer, freethinker, feminist, abolitionist, and social reformer
Source.. Lecture, 1829
I wouldn't call it fascism exactly
but a political system nominally controlled
by an irresponsible, dumbed down electorate
who are manipulated by dishonest, cynical, controlled mass media
that dispense the propaganda of a corrupt political establishment
can hardly be described as democracy either..
~ Edward Zehr ~ (1936-2001)
Columnist
The conscious and intelligent manipulation
of the organized habits and opinions of the masses
is an important element in democratic society..
~ Edward Bernays ~ (1891-1995)
"Father" of modern public relations (PR) and director of the U.S. Committee on Public Information during World War I, on government propaganda
Source.. Bernays, Propaganda (1928), chapter 1.
The devil’s best trick
is to persuade you that he doesn’t exist!
~ Charles Baudelaire ~ (1821-1867)
French poet, critic and translator
Source.. in his 1864 short story, “The Generous Gambler”
Crisis is the rallying cry of the tyrant.
~ James Madison ~ (1751-1836)
Father of the Constitution for the USA, 4th US President
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