Speaking of Rudy
Posted by Zach Wendling on 19 December 2007 | 5 responses
We look upon authority too often and focus over and over again, for 30 or 40 or 50 years, as if there is something wrong with authority. We see only the oppressive side of authority. Maybe it comes out of our history and our background. What we don’t see is that freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.
– Rudy Giuliani, March 16, 1994
via Radley Balko
5 Responses to “Speaking of Rudy”
I can’t wait to see who’ll win the primaries — Huckabee or Rudy.
I’m tired of being in suspense about whether Republicans are going to choose religious socialism or a militarized police state.
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
I really don’t want Rudy to win the primary, but to be fair, this was from a speech about crime and law enforcement. It should probably be read as arguing that law and order is crucial to maintaining freedom–not as glorifying authority for authority’s sake.
wahoofive beat me to the most appropriate response.
…to be fair, this was from a speech about crime and law enforcement. It should probably be read as arguing that law and order is crucial to maintaining freedom–not as glorifying authority for authority’s sake.
I can believe that he wasn’t glorifying authority for authority’s sake, but it is hard for me to imagine someone with a healthy understanding of and appreciation for freedom saying, “Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.” Freedom surely depends on “order” by some definition, but someone who would say that surrendering “a great deal” of control to authority is what freedom is actually “about” is not the kind of person who I think should be trusted with the power to limit freedom.