[Well, yes, freedom can beget evil, but evil seems to be found even more in
restrictive societies that sharply curtail liberty. This seems to be a sad
case of a columnist looking for a good line and a convenient defection than
any thoughtful "reevaluation." --Declan]
---
http://salon.com/news/col/vincent/2001/11/02/libertarians/index_np.html
Freedom begets evil, and other realizations
For civil libertarians -- like myself -- war is a time for some harsh
reevaluation.
By Norah Vincent
Nov. 2, 2001 | Civil libertarians can be so smug. I should know. I am
one. Or, I have professed to be one until now. Proudly, as it happens.
Haughtily even. "I'm with the good guys," I told myself. "Not the
theocrats. Not the anarchists. Just the right on, straight shooting,
Bill of Rights toting crowd."
Not anymore. Now it seems I'm with the sticklers, the devils who revel
in the details, the litigious brake-slammers every American is
learning to hate. That is to say, I'm still a civil libertarian, but
I'm not always so proud of it anymore. And, if we're honest with
ourselves, none of us should be.
The reason is very simple. Freedom begets evil.
[...]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list
You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice.
Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/
To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Dec 29 2001 - 01:19:03 PST