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Comment by khaki54

4 days ago

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

11 comments

khaki54

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immibis  4 days ago

The key words are "essential" and "temporary" - the nouns can be replaced with pretty much anything.

In what way do you think the USA is currently doing better than China? Yes you can talk about Tiananmen Square, obviously, but there are other things you can't talk about.

energy123  4 days ago

Safety protects liberty, otherwise you get public safety authoritarians like Duterte or Bukele. This is not advocacy for authoritarianism. It's advocacy for assertive liberalism that is effective at delivering a core human need in order to protect liberalism from itself.

Xunjin  4 days ago

Which essential Liberty you think Chinese people do not have?

  • Arn_Thor  4 days ago

    Freedom of speech, freedom of association and freedom from abitrary detention, just to name a few.

    Of course some speech, association and rule of law (as opposed to rule by law) is enjoyed by most people. But it is indisputable that China restricts speech and association severely, and silences "troublemakers" arbitrarily.

    Let me preempt the inevitable replies: this comment is about China and China alone. It it factual irrespective of what freedoms may or may not be enjoyed anywhere else including the US.

    • immibis  4 days ago

      I wasn't saying China has those freedoms, just that China has at least as much of them as the US. Just today - or was it yesterday - an ICE agent peered into a woman's driver side window and shot her three times point blank. Because of her speech. Where's the freedom there?

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  • irishcoffee  4 days ago

    Freedom of information is the first thing that comes to mind.