February 25, 2005Quotes
I'm going to have to stop thinking of Beard Clarke as a pitbull, and cast him as something with more nibbly teeth. Like a fascist hamster.
No greater civil liberty? No greater civil liberty? Not freedom of expression, freedom of association, freedom to vote and think and dress and work as I please? No, clearly not. The freedom to not be blown up by terrorists is far more important - let's ignore the fact that far fewer people are the victims of terrorist attacks than of incompetent government bundling of health, social security, transport or education. Unless New Labour is planning to offer vocational training in terrorism it's difficult to see how Al Qaeda could ever pose a greater threat to most people than, say, MRSA. Or a seven day house arrest without judicial review. Or Ruth Kelly. To be completely fair, Cicero disagrees with me. "Liberty consists in the power of doing that which is permitted by the law", he boldly states. I can hear him now, calling down the years: "Let none listen to Aylett, lest he end up listening to himself!". But then he was a wuss who would go and sulk every time he lost a case he was trying; and let us not forget that it was also Cicero who said "When you have no basis for an argument, abuse the plaintiff", something that a couple of millenia later has become enshrined as the way to get elected in America. Speaking of which:
(Cheney subsequently making it his life's work to ensure that no American ever again takes liberty for granted.) And in case you were thinking that judicial review of cases which (for reasons that have never been explained) cannot be prosecuted will make us all happy, free, safe bunnies:
Comments
Cicero was a crap poet. Anyway, here's Lord Acton (he of 'absolute power corrupts absolutely'): "It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority." I'd go along with that. State oppression and infringement of civil liberties would be and has been worse than terrorism or other minority action. Posted by: James Casey at February 27, 2005 05:07 PM |