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celticlord2112 -> RE: Some of you really smart people please explain American democracy to me (11/8/2008 1:54:02 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: NorthernGent
quote:
ORIGINAL: celticlord2112
It does not follow, unless you first establish that society itself is a state of bondage.
The great organising factors that are the rule of law, family and work, all require submission to an authority.
Regardless, you've thrown a quote into a discussion and you've been asked for clarification.
The quote comes from Heinlein's short story "If This Goes On--", which describes a revolt against a future theocratic dictatorship.
The full quote is as follows:
quote:
For the first time in my life, I was reading things which had not been approved by the Prophet's censors, and the impact on my mind was devastating. Sometimes I would glance over my shoulder to see who was watching me, frightened in spite of myself. I began to sense faintly that secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy...censorship. When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to it's subjects, This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know, the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked, contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything---you can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.
A similar quote (which was actually the one I had in mind) appears in "Free Men"
quote:
Presently Morgan added, "There's one thing this has taught me: You can't enslave a free man. Only person can do that to a man is himself. No, sir--you can't enslave a free man. The most you can do is kill him."
Both passages echo a recurring theme of Heinlein--that "freedom" as such is a state of mind and of the individual. A man may choose to participate in the company of his fellows, or he may choose to withdraw from said company; he may accept the restrictions of a community in order to participate in that community, or he may rebel against those restrictions and oppose the community. In all cases, however, a man only stops being "free" when he at last believes he has no choice, that his will is useless and his desires meaningless. A man only stops being "free" when he will accept life in however mean and degraded a state in preference to a death in accordance with his own will.
Where Franklin and Heinlein converge is on the principle that freedom is an active choice, not a passive one. If we do not defend our liberties, if we are not prepared to die in that defense, we will in time surrender those liberties.
Leading to yet another quote--variously but erroneously attributed to your countryman Edmund Burke: "All that is needed for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
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