I like that Veteran's Day comes after Election Day, that it reminds us to reflect and remember those who fought to ensure that we, and others, can debate about our leaders, our values and our direction in peace and freedom. So I especially liked this paragraph from a case today ...
"Those who won our independence believed that the final end of the state was to make men free to develop their faculties, and that in its government the deliberative forces should prevail over the arbitrary. They valued liberty both as an end and as a means. They believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty. They believed that freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think are means indispensable to the discovery and spread of political truth; ... that the greatest menace to freedom is an inert people; that public discussion is a political duty; and that this should be a fundamental principle of the American government. They recognized the risks to which all human institutions are subject. But they knew that order cannot be secured merely through fear of punishment for its infraction; that it is hazardous to discourage thought, hope and imagination; that fear breeds repression; that repression breeds hate; that hate menaces stable government; that the path of safety lies in the opportunity to discuss freely supposed grievances and proposed remedies; and that the fitting remedy for evil counsels is good ones."
~ Justice Brandeis, Whitney v. California, (1927)
2 comments:
Wow - I'm grateful for freedom - I could never express it like that. I know why you went to law school and not me.
Love the quote. I'm still looking for a "public discussion" that isn't almost entirely written from a liberal bias... but don't get me started on the media. :)
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