It is from weakness that people reach for dictators and concentrated government power. Only the strong can be free. And only the productive can be strong.
Interpretation
Weakness often leads people to seek authoritarian control, while true freedom and strength come from productivity and resilience.
This quote by Wendell Willkie suggests that in times of weakness or crisis, individuals may turn to dictators and centralized authority as a means of seeking security and stability. However, he emphasizes that genuine strength derives from productivity and self-reliance, allowing individuals the freedom to pursue their own paths without relying on oppressive governance.
In practice
In a speech discussing the importance of civic engagement and democracy.
Freedom is an indivisible word. If we want to enjoy it, and fight for it, we must be prepared to extend it to everyone, whether they are rich or poor, whether they agree with us or not, no matter what their race or the color of their skin.
Today it is becoming increasingly apparent to thoughtful Americans that we cannot fight the forces and ideas of imperialism abroad and maintain any form of imperialism at home. The war has done this to our thinking.
No man has a right in America to treat any other man "tolerantly" for tolerance is the assumption of superiority. Our liberties are equal rights of every citizen.
I believe the moral losses of expediency always far outweigh the temporary gains.
To suppress minority thinking and minority expression would tend to freeze society and prevent progress. Now more than ever we must keep in the forefront of our minds the fact that whenever we take away the liberties of those we hate, we are opening the way to loss of liberty for those we love.
The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness.
I'm also very much aware that it is you who brought democracy to Chile, you set up a constitution suitable for democracy, you put it into effect, elections were held, and then, in accordance with the result, you stepped down.
Apartheid was baked hard in the mining industry because that's where it originated.
Inverted totalitarianism, unlike classical totalitarianism, does not revolve around a demagogue or charismatic leader. It finds expression in the anonymity of the Corporate State. It purports to cherish democracy, patriotism, and the Constitution while manipulating internal levers.
Politics has long been a place where fear and loathing are exploited: fear of progress, fear of the unknown, fear of the other, fear of our own neighbors.
In the 1990s, we were certain that Saddam Hussein had a nuclear arsenal. In fact, his factories could barely make soap.
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