Maybe we ought to consider a Golden Rule in foreign policy: Don't do to other nations what we don't want happening to us. We endlessly bomb these countries and then we wonder why they get upset with us?
Ron PaulRead
I wish I could say I was shocked at the reports the NSA is secretly spying on the private phone calls of millions of Verizon customers. However, this is a predictable result of a government that continues to erode our liberties while promising some glimmering hope of security.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses concern about government surveillance and the erosion of personal liberties for the sake of security.
In this quote, Ron Paul highlights the troubling relationship between governmental authority and individual freedoms. He argues that the revelation of the NSA's secret surveillance on Verizon customers is not surprising, but rather an expected outcome of a government that increasingly prioritizes security over civil liberties. This sentiment underscores a broader warning about the potential dangers of sacrificing personal freedoms in exchange for the illusion of safety.
Themes
GovernmentSurveillanceFreedomLibertySecurityPrivacy
In practice
Example use cases
During a debate about privacy rights, one might quote Ron Paul to emphasize the importance of civil liberties.
More from Ron Paul
All quotes βNo one talks about the real ethics disaster in Washington. It's that many members of Congress will listen to any argument against a bill except for two: that it's not moral or that it's not Constitutional.
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Liberty is lost through complacency and a subservient mindset. When we accept or even welcome automobile checkpoints, random searches, mandatory identification cards, and paramilitary police in our streets, we have lost a vital part of our American heritage. America was born of protest, revolution, and mistrust of government. Subservient societies neither maintain nor deserve freedom for long.
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If we are not even free anymore to decide something as basic as what we wish to eat or drink, how much freedom do we really have left?
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They ask me if I'm going to quit. I thought we were just getting started. We have a revolution to fight, a country to change.
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When one person can initiate war, by its definition, a republic no longer exists.
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I suspect there have been a number of conspiracies that never were described or leaked out. But I suspect none of the magnitude and sweep of Watergate.
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Whether it is in the United States or in mainland Europe, written constitutions have one great weakness. That is that they contain the potential to have judges take decisions which should properly be made by democratically elected politicians.
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The people of every country are the only safe guardians of their own rights.
Thomas JeffersonRead