Tuesday, May 29, 2007

and war is peace and ignorance is strength

When I Googled this quote in disbelief, I found it at the New York Times Web site along with a lot of comment from late March of this year, so I'm late coming to it, but I have to do my part in getting it more widely read:

"We look upon authority too often and focus over and over again, for 30 or 40 or 50 years, as if there is something wrong with authority. We see only the oppressive side of authority. Maybe it comes out of our history and our background. What we don't see is that freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do."

The quote is from "a forum about crime in the cities, sponsored by The New York Post," in March 1994. The speaker is New York Mayor Rudolph Giulani. No one who believes this should be president of the United States (although one might argue that most presidents believe it in their heart of hearts).

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4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree. He should never even be seen as a viable candidate. I love your blog here, and agree with much that you say. Did you see the post on God Bless America and Star Spangled Banner in NYC? I linked to it on No Quarter... best, Marlene, PrchrLady

1:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Compare and contrast Giulani's quote with this one from a real President, Thomas Jefferson, “Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’, because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.”

7:35 PM  
Blogger jomama said...

A real president, no doubt, kyfho.

I haven't seen one since.

2:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Reagan.

10:33 AM  

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