MOOSERIDER magazine: First Amendment

Quotes

"Fascism and communism both promise "social welfare," "social justice," and "fairness" to justify authoritarian means and extensive arbitrary and discretionary governmental powers." - F. A. Hayek"

"Life is a Bungling process and in no way educational." in James M. Cain

Jean Giraudoux who first said, “Only the mediocre are always at their best.”

If you have ten thousand regulations, you destroy all respect for the law. Sir Winston Churchill

"summum ius summa iniuria" ("More laws, more injustice.") Cicero

As Christopher Hitchens once put it, “The essence of tyranny is not iron law; it is capricious law.”

"Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." Ronald Reagan

"Law is where you buy it." Raymond Chandler

"Why did God make so many damn fools and Democrats?" Clarence Day

"If I feel like feeding squirrels to the nuts, this is the place for it." - Cluny Brown

"Oh, pshaw! When yu' can't have what you choose, yu' just choose what you have." Owen Wister "The Virginian"

Oscar Wilde said about the death scene in Little Nell, you would have to have a heart of stone not to laugh.

Thomas More's definition of government as "a conspiracy of rich men procuring their own commodities under the name and title of a commonwealth.” ~ Winston S. Churchill, A History of the English Speaking Peoples

“Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.” ~ Jonathon Swift

Friday, May 21, 2010

First Amendment - Veronique de Rugy

First Amendment - Veronique de Rugy - The Corner on National Review Online

Friday, May 21, 2010

First Amendment [Veronique de Rugy]

John Stossel has written a blog post that serves as a good reminder that you can't rely on government to always protect free speech. Thankfully, most of his examples took place in Canada.

One U.S. example he talks about is the cartoonist in Seattle who came up with the idea of an "Everybody Draw Mohammad Day" because she wanted to "defend something our country is famous for, but may not be famous for long, given that Comedy Central cooperated with terrorists." She ended up backing off by fear of retaliation.

Stossel: "Understandable, but sad." However, isn't the existence of the cartoonist's fear even more reason to come up with ideas like hers?

Remarkably, some people remain fearless. Stossel interviewed a few of them on his show last night, including Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Hirsi Ali grew up in Somalia and raised as a devout Muslim. As Stossel reminds us:

She came to the West — the Netherlands — at age 22, to escape an arranged marriage with a man she had never met. There she studied enlightenment thinkers, like John Stuart Mill and Friedrich Hayek and was elected to the Dutch parliament. She also produced a film about Islam's subjugation of women with Dutch movie-maker Theo Van Gogh.

A Muslim man who took offense at the movie shot and stabbed Van Gogh. The killer left a note on Van Gogh’s body. Addressed to Hirsi Ali, it said that she was next to “be destroyed.”

Today Ayaan lives in America, where she keeps speaking out. She has a new book about her life story, called Nomad, and a foundation that aims to "to help protect and defend the rights of women in the West against militant Islam."

Her incredible life is an inspiring example of courage and commitment to free speech. I wish I had that type of courage, and I'm grateful that I've never had to live in a place where one could be put to death for one's beliefs.

For more on this topic, you can read the very thoughtful posts of Reason’s Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch here and here.

05/21 08:47 AM Share