When a legislature decides to steal some of our rights and plans to use police force to accomplish it, what's the real difference between them and the thief? Darn little! They hide behind the excuse that they're legislating democratically. The fact they do it by a majority vote has no moral significance whatsoever. Numerical might does not constitute right, no more than a lynch mob can justify its act because a majority participated.
Interpretation
The quote criticizes the idea that the majority can override individual rights under the guise of democracy.
H. L. Richardson's quote highlights a profound concern about the moral implications of legislative actions that infringe on individual rights. By drawing a parallel between a thief and a legislature that uses force to enact laws, Richardson argues that majority rule does not equate to moral correctness. The quote serves as a caution against the unchecked power of the majority and emphasizes that ethical considerations should prevail over sheer numerical strength.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about civil rights and government overreach during a political debate.
Nothing will make me change my principles. Even with the knife at my neck I shall still declare, up to this day, the poor have done everything; it is time for the rich to take their turn... The selfish people, the young idlers, must be made useful, whether they like it or not, and some respite be procured for the useful and respectable worker.
Women are the most denigrated social group in the Soviet Union. The idea of women's emancipation is only a slogan in - but also, I should say, in many places outside - the Soviet Union. But especially in the militaristic Soviet society, people only thought of life in terms of struggle and the workers' toil.
Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion.
...she knew in her heart that nature has a preference for a particular order: parents die, then children die. But it was a harsh design, offering little relief from pain, for being in accord with it means that the fortunate find themselves orphaned.
We on Earth have just awakened to the great oceans of space and time from which we have emerged. We are the legacy of 15 billion years of cosmic evolution. We have a choice: We can enhance life and come to know the universe that made us, or we can squander our 15 billion-year heritage in meaningless self-destruction. What happens in the first second of the next cosmic year depends on what we do, here and now, with our intelligence and our knowledge of the cosmos.
The collapse of good conscience and the absence of accountability and public scrutiny have led to crimes against humanity and violations of international law.
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