#politics

I realize that what happened in Bosnia could happen anywhere in the world, particularly in places that are diverse and have a history of conflict. It only takes bad leadership for a country to go up in flames, for people of different ethnicity, color, or religion to kill each other as if they had nothing in common whatsoever. Having a democratic constitution, laws that secure human rights, police that maintain order, a judicial system, and freedom of speech don't ultimately guarantee long lasting peace. If greedy or bloodthirsty leaders come to power, it can all go down. It happened to us. It can happen to you. ↗

— Savo Heleta

#bosnia-and-herzegovina #bosnian-war #democracy #government #history

With each passing day, I become more and more convinced that the greatest threat to American freedom is the United States government. ↗

— Michel Templet

#politics #united-states #freedom

[A] great embarrassing fact… haunts all attempts to represent the market as the highest form of human freedom: that historically, impersonal, commercial markets originate in theft. ↗

— David Graeber

#economics #libertarianism #markets #politics #freedom

[I]n my own case at least I feel my professional need for freedom of speech and expression prejudices me toward a government whose constitution guarantees it. ↗

— John Updike

#free-speech #politics #united-states #united-states-constitution #war

There is no such thing as a victimless crime, and people should be allowed to do as they please with their own bodies and with other consenting adults. If you believe otherwise, then you are an enemy of freedom. ↗

— Michel Templet

#philosophy #politics #freedom

If we seek solace in the prisons of the distant past Security in human systems we're told will always always last Emotions are the sail and blind faith is the mast Without the breath of real freedom we're getting nowhere fast." (History Will Teach Us Nothing) ↗

— Sting

#captivity #critical-thinking #freedom #history #politics

Without "the people," there is no country. ↗

— John David

#freedom #liberty #patriotism #politics #freedom

I will tell you what I will do and what I will not do. I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it calls itself my home, my fatherland, or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defense the only arms I allow myself to use -- silence, exile, and cunning. ↗

— James Joyce

#politics #art

Every politician has a promising career. Unfortunately, most of them do not keep those promises. ↗

— Jarod Kintz

#politician #politics #promises #funny

I also believe my home state is cursed by ignorance and poverty and racism, much of it deliberately inculcated to control a vulnerable electorate. And I believe many of the politicians in Louisiana are among the most stomach-churning examples of white trash and venality I have ever known. To me, the fact that large numbers of people find them humorously picaresque is mind numbing, on a level with telling fond tales of one's rapist. ↗

— James Lee Burke

#louisiana #politics #home