Temat: What do you think of this statement
Rafal Wolk:
With out cheating and checking who's quote this is. Do you agree? Disagree? Why?
"Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do and how you do it."Rafal Wolk edytował(a) ten post dnia 10.04.08 o godzinie 14:53
Given that this subject has become very topical during the last few years it is tempting to say G.W.Bush or Blair or Cheney... though I have a feeling you're going to say that it was Abraham Lincoln.
I'm not sure if I agree. In the context of a 'western' state you could say that we CAN do almost anything and those things that we can't do are generally things that appear to be morally repugnant (such as murder or theft). Therefore we invite the big authority to keep people within certain confines but generally we are free.
However, who decides what the authority is going to be, or who it is going to be. What is a 'lawful authority'? Who decides it is lawful? Does it decide itself that it is the lawful authority (like after a military coup), or does a large minority decide that it is the decision maker (certain African countries).
Given that the definition of what is a lawful authority isn't really clear I'd have to disagree with the statement.