Every device employed to bolster individual freedom must have as its chief purpose the impairment of the absoluteness of power. The indications are that such an impairment is brought about not by strengthening the individual and pitting him against the possessors of power, but by distributing and diversifying power and pitting one category or unit of power against the other. Where power is one, the defeated individual, however strong and resourceful, can have no refuge and no recourse.
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In republican governments, men are all equal; equal they are also is despotic governments: in the former, because they are read more
In republican governments, men are all equal; equal they are also is despotic governments: in the former, because they are everything; in the latter, because they are nothing.
...if we wish to preserve a free society, it is essential that we recognize that the desirability of a particular read more
...if we wish to preserve a free society, it is essential that we recognize that the desirability of a particular object is not sufficient justification for the use of coercion.
All of the troubles that some people have in life is that which they married into.
All of the troubles that some people have in life is that which they married into.
Man's rights are evident branches of, rather than deductions from, the duty of self-preservation, commonly called the first law of read more
Man's rights are evident branches of, rather than deductions from, the duty of self-preservation, commonly called the first law of nature.
What doth it profit a man if he gains the who world and loses his own soul?
What doth it profit a man if he gains the who world and loses his own soul?
When you're a lawyer, you expect your client to lie to you, but not when he is the president.
When you're a lawyer, you expect your client to lie to you, but not when he is the president.
The essence of democracy is not that everyone makes and administers laws but that lawgivers and rulers should be dependent read more
The essence of democracy is not that everyone makes and administers laws but that lawgivers and rulers should be dependent on the people's will in such a way that they may be peaceably changed if conflict occurs.
A war for a great principle ennobles a nation.
A war for a great principle ennobles a nation.
Rousseau had it backwards. We are NOT born free. We are born in the chains of the random and the read more
Rousseau had it backwards. We are NOT born free. We are born in the chains of the random and the reflexive, and are ignorant and unreasonable by simple nature. We must learn to be free, to organize the random and detect the reflexive, to acquire the knowledge of particulars and the powers of reason. The examined life is impossible if we cannot examine, order, classify, define, distinguish, always in minute particulars.
