“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.”
– Presidential candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani
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freedom is about authority
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I…but…er…uh…huh?
Giuliani smiles too much to be a jackboot. Maybe that is what should be concerning us.
I want to believe that people are capable of being good by just following the golden rule, but the relationship between the Golden Rule and the Law is like that of Geometry and Real Space- one looks good on paper, appeals to the mind, and seems to relate is some way to the other while the other loosely fits but does not always obey the former.
Watching the property crime explosion that is happening in Seattle right now leads me to believe that this message Giuliani is presenting is going to win him the election. The democrats better have a damn good answer to this argument.
In other news: Ignorance is strength.
“… when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
Since we’re quoting…
“No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices.” ~Edward R Murrow
Hey, what’s more freeing than not thinking? It’s totally zen.
“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” – Hunter Thompson
I’m turning pro.
Gaseous discharge. Turd brain coagulate shudder. Fumble fumble fumble. Osmosis. Something slipped by. Fumble fumble fumble. Er! Creak of eyeball soak entombs us. Nether, pubic. Nether, pubic. Crack. Fist of Giulani winks with charm. “It’s shiitey down here–just the way I like it.” Slithers through asses, brains–the eyeball poop-encrusted. Slide, notion. Slide, notion. Devour thoughts, secrets. Coat with shiite. Primer primer stick. Free. “Next!”
Freedom’s just another word for no rights left to lose.
I’m having a hard time seeing the flaw in Giuliani’s statement.
Don’t we cede to lawful authority when we comply with, say, the civil rights or clean water act?
The flaw, ol’EC is the continual erosion … the constant ceding … Patriot Act … Habeus Corpus … Deportation of Aliens … loss of principle involved in ceding Affirmative Action in University Admissions … more attacks on the right to own howitzers and landmines … or haven’t you noticed, being all comfortable in the ol’bungalow with the Tigers winning and the hockey playoffs heading for Anaheim? Hmmm? You’re a WITH IT guy. Right?
“Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow.”
“One Nation Under a Groove.”
-Funkadelic
George Clinton for President.
I’ve been paying attention as the right increasingly decreases the government’s ability to enact/enforce environmental laws, civil rights laws, social policy, gun restrictions, etc. through the philosophy that “The government doesn’t have the right to tell me what to do.”
I doubt I’d agree with Giuliani on applications of the principle, but the idea of ceding personal freedom to be part of a civil society used to be a pretty basic concept to everyone but Libertarians and Anarchists.
I’d think someone who’s on the historic committee and tells folks what shape their gutters can be would be a bit more sympathetic to the concept of ceding discretion to authority.
By the way, I’m a Pistons man.
We’re all Pistons’ men while they’re in the playoffs.
The HDC doesn’t tell people what shape their gutters must be.
The founders’ principles were based on NOT ceding to the State any more than is necessary. And there will always be debate about when the line is crossed. The fact tyhat we’re having this debate at all means that it’s probably still safe to be an American or a green card or a student visa.
The flaw is that freedom is NOT about authority. Freedom is ‘about’ the failures of authority. And authority is ‘about’ the failures of free men.
Freedom is ‘about’ submitting to authority, like marriage is ‘about’ letting your husband have his mistress sleep over in the house you are still sharing.