The argument that someone is a bad man is an inadequate argument for war and certainly an inadequate and unacceptable argument for regime change.
Interpretation
Labeling someone as a 'bad man' does not justify war or changing their regime.
In this quote, John Major argues that the moral judgment of an individual as a 'bad man' is insufficient grounds for initiating warfare or attempting to alter the governmental structure of a country. Such a perspective calls for a more nuanced understanding of international relations and emphasizes the dangers of oversimplification in justifying military interventions.
In practice
In a debate on foreign policy, one could use this quote to argue against military intervention.
The sight of allegedly sophisticated politicians parroting complete tripe trivialises and demeans government and it has to be stopped. It's played a significant part in public disillusionment with politics and has led to the absurd situation where more people vote for 'Strictly Come Dancing' than voted in the general election.
I don't think nations can stand aside for ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Whether you agree with me or disagree with me; like me or loathe me, don't bind my hands when I am negotiating on behalf of the British nation.
There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter β the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something.
Two races share today the soil of Canada. These people had not always been friends. But I hasten to say it. There is no longer any family here but the human family. It matters not the language people speak, or the altars at which they kneel.
We must not confuse the present with the past. With regard to the past, no further action is possible.
The injuries that befall us unexpectedly are less severe than those which are deliberately anticipated.
The world is emblematic. Parts of speech are metaphors, because the whole of nature is a metaphor of the human mind.
Freedom is messy. In free societies, people will fall through the cracks - drink too much, eat too much, buy unaffordable homes, fail to make prudent provision for health care, and much else. But the price of being relieved of all those tiresome choices by a benign paternal government is far too high. Big Government is the small option: it's the guarantee of smaller freedom, smaller homes, smaller cars, smaller opportunities, smaller lives.
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