Every once in a while it’s a good idea to take a break from in-fighting with other progressives and remember whose side you’re on. It’s a good idea to remember who are the libertarians (in the expansive sense of the term) and who are the authoritarians. Who are the friends of civil liberties, and who are the enemies. Here’s a reminder:
“[T]he state must not forget that all means must serve an end; it must not let itself by confused by the drivel about so-called ‘Freedom of the Press’…it must make sure of this instrument of popular education [the press], and place it in the service of the state.”
–Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf
“Why should freedom of speech and freedom of the press be allowed? Why should a government which is doing what it believes to be right allow itself to be criticized? It would not allow opposition by lethal weapons. Ideas are much more fatal things than guns. Why should a man be allowed to buy a printing press and disseminate pernicious opinions calculated to embarrass the government.”
–V.I. Lenin, Speech in Moscow, 1920, quoted by Maximoff in The Guillotine at Work
“”[I]t is in no way lawful to demand, to defend, or to grant unconditional freedom of thought, of speech, of writing, or of religion, as if they were so many rights that nature has given to man.”
–Pope Leo XIII, Libertas Praestantissimum
“Burn the libraries, for all their value is in the Koran.”
–Caliph Omar, at the fall of Alexandria in 641
“[D]eprive the reactionaries of the right to speak.”
–Mao Tse Tung, On the People’s Democratic Ditcatorship
“From the polluted fountain of indifferentism flows that absurd and erroneous doctrine, or rather, raving, which claims and defends liberty of conscience for everyone. From this comes, in a word, the worst plague of all, namely, unrestrained liberty of opinion and freedom of speech.”
–Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vox
Related articles
- Free speech threats in the US and UK (cjr.org)
Sharp and Pointed 