“Poetry transcends the nation-state. Poetry transcends government. It brings the traditional concept of power to its knees. I have always believed poetry to be an eternal conversation in which the ancient poets remain contemporary, a conversation inviting us into other languages and cultures even as poetry transcends language and culture, returning us again and again to primal rhythms and sounds.”
- Sam Hamill, Report from Medellín Poetry Festival 2005
“[The Framers] foresaw that troublous times would arise, when rulers and people would become restive under restraint, and seek by sharp and decisive measures to accomplish ends deemed just and proper; and that the principles of constitutional liberty would be in peril, unless established by irrepealable law. . . . The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace, and covers with the shield of its protection all classes of men, at all times, and under all circumstances. No doctrine, involving more pernicious consequences, was ever invented by the wit of man than that any of its provisions can be suspended during any of the great exigencies of government. Such a doctrine leads directly to anarchy or despotism, but the theory of necessity on which it is based is false; for the government, within the Constitution, has all the powers granted to it, which are necessary to preserve its existence.”
-- Ex Parte Milligan, 71 U.S. 2, 120-21 (1866)
“It is proper to take alarm
at the first experiment on our liberties. . . . The freemen of America did not
wait till usurped power had strengthened itself by exercise, and entangled the
question in precedents. They saw
all the consequences in the principle, and they avoided the consequences by
denying the principle. We revere
this lesson too much, soon to forget it. . . .”
-- James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance (1785)
"Naturally the common people don't want war . . .. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
-- Hermann Goering, Deputy-Fuhrer, Third Reich (1946)
“It is important to understand that the people who planned, financed and executed the Sept 11 atrocities despise our values as much as they despise our wealth and power. They understand, perhaps even more keenly than some Americans, that our wealth and power derive from the democratic values expressed in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. If we are intimidated to the point of restricting our freedoms and undermining our democracy, the terrorists will have won a resounding victory indeed.”
-- ACLU Sept. 11 One-Year Anniversary Report
“The accumulation of all powers legislative, executive and judiciary in the same hands . . . may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”
-- James Madison, The Federalist #47
“[T]he right to a fair
trial, to consult w/ a lawyer beyond the range of government microphones and
protection against being held in secret for minor crimes are not for Americans
only. We believe that they are the
rights of all human beings. Our
history is a story of continuous struggles to keep the government from
sectioning off one segment of humanity as unworthy of the same basic civil
rights as everyone else."
-- New York Times Editorial, Dec. 2, 2001
“Democracies die behind closed doors. The First Amendment, through a free press, protects the people’s right to know that their government acts fairly, lawfully, and accurately in deportation proceedings. When government begins closing doors, it selectively controls information rightfully belonging to the people. Selective information is misinformation. The Framers of the First Amendment ‘did not trust any government to separate the true from the false for us.’ Kleindienst v. Mandel, 408 U.S. 753, 773, 92 S. Ct. 2576 (1972) (quoting, Thomas v. Collins, 323 U.S. 516, 545, 65 S.Ct. 315 (Jackson, J., concurring)). They protected the people against secret government.”
-- Detroit Free Press v. Ashcroft, 303 F.3d 681, 683 (6th Cir. 2002).
“The word ‘security’ is a broad, vaguely generality whose contours should not be invoked to abrogate the fundamental law embodied in the First Amendment. The guarding of military and diplomatic secrets at the expense of informed representative government provides no real security for our Republic.”
-- New York Times v. United States, 403 U.S. 713, 719 (1971) (Black, J., concurring).
“If this nation is to be wise as well as strong, if we are to achieve our destiny, then we need more new ideas for more wise men reading more good books in more public libraries. These libraries should be open to all-except the censor. We must know all the facts and hear all the alternatives and listen to all the criticisms. Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors. For the Bill of Rights is the guardian of our security as well as our liberty.”
-- John F. Kennedy
“Struggles
to coerce uniformity of sentiment in support of some end thought essential to
their time and country have been waged by many good as well as by evil men.
Nationalism is a relatively recent phenomenon but at other times and places the
ends have been racial or territorial security, support of a dynasty or regime,
and particular plans for saving souls. As first and moderate methods to attain
unity have failed, those bent on its accomplishment must resort to an
ever-increasing severity. . . . Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent
soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of
opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard.
“It seems
trite but necessary to say that the First Amendment to our Constitution was
designed to avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings. There is no mysticism
in the American concept of the State or of the nature or origin of its
authority. We set up government by consent of the governed, and the Bill of
Rights denies those in power any legal opportunity to coerce that consent.
Authority here is to be controlled by public opinion, not public opinion by
authority.
“If there is
any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official,
high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism,
religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or
act their faith therein."
-- West Virginia State Bd of Education v. Barnette, 319 US 624 (1943)
First they came for the
communists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me--
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
-- Martin Niemoeller, German Protestant Minister and decorated U-Boat Captain, critic of Nazi party.
Arrested 1937, acquitted, but incarcerated in concentration camp anyway on Hitler's orders.
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