The prospect of a government that treats all its citizens as criminal suspects is more terrifying than any terrorist. And even more frightening is a citizenry that can accept the surrender of its freedoms as the price of "freedom".
Interpretation
This quote warns against a government that infringes on personal freedoms under the guise of security.
Joseph Sobran highlights the danger of a government that perceives all citizens as potential criminals, suggesting that this mindset creates a more profound threat to liberty than any external terrorism. He argues that society's willingness to trade its freedoms for a false sense of security is a terrifying acceptance of tyranny.
In practice
During a debate on privacy laws, this quote could emphasize the importance of protecting personal freedoms.
There has never been a humane communist regime. Marxism is inherently totalitarian. It recognizes no moral limits on the state. It’s the most convenient ideology for aspiring tyrants; it also retains its appeal for intellectuals, who have proved equally skillful at rationalizing abuses of power and at exculpating themselves.
Man is the only creature disposed to kill huge numbers of members of his own species, and his instrument is usually the state.
Must a name mean something?" Alice asked doubtfully. Of course it must," Humpty Dumpty said with a short laugh; "my name means the shape I am - and a good handsome shape it is, too. With a name like yours, you might be any shape, almost.
I hope that when I'm 90 years old, I've accomplished a legacy that isn't all about me. I hope it's a legacy about the people who our foundation helps.
Humanity’s greatest advances are not in its discoveries – but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity. Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity – reducing inequity is the highest human achievement.
As soon as man enters into a state of society he loses the sense of his weakness; equality ceases, and then commences the state of war.
To ask me to verify my life by giving you my statistics is like using science to validate sorcery. It robs the world of its magic and makes milestones out of us all.
Fair... You'd be amazed how often I hear that word, Frank Zhang,and how meaningless it is. Is it fair your life will burn so short and bright? Was it fair when I guided your mother to the Underworld? No, not fair. And yet it was her time. There is no fairness in Death. If you free me, I will do my duty.
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