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Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right . . . and a desire to know; but this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean of the characters and conduct of their rulers.
--John Adams
We should cease to talk about vague…and unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of living standards, and democratization. The day is not far off when we will have to deal with straight power concepts. The less we are hampered with idealistic slogans, the better…. The final answer might be an unpleasant one, but…we should not hesitate before police repression by the local government. This is not shameful…. It is better to have a strong regime in power than a liberal government if it is indulgent and relaxed."
--George Kennan, U.S. State Department
It is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.
--Patrick Henry
Politicians [are] a set of men who have interests aside from the interests of the people, and who, to say the most of them, are, taken as a mass, at least one long step removed from honest men.
--President Abraham Lincoln
DOJ | The United States is not nearly so concerned that its acts be kept secret from its intended victims as it is that the American people not know of them.
-–U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark
[T]he absolutists are the enemies of reason…the dogmatists in law, however sincere, are the mischiefmakers.... Legislation must not be so vague, the language so loose, as to leave those who have to apply it too wide a discretion [Interstate Circuit v. Dallas, 390 US 676 (1968)]
--Justice Felix Frankfurter
The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this.
--Albert Einstein, from "My First Impression of the U.S.A." (1921)
First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself -- Nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror.... The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic State itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism, ownership of the government by the individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.
--President Franklin Roosevelt
Ford & Ford | Thinking must be hard work since so damn few people do it.
--Henry Ford
Cop Racers | What's the difference between a mugger and a traffic cop? A mugger won't stop you in a dangerous parking spot inches from high-speed traffic, libel you in the newspaper, cancel your car insurance, get you fired from your job, cancel your hospital care, take your house, take your children or send you to bankruptcy or divorce court--and then try to convince you it's for your own good. –Anonymous
We are the only profession that goes looking for trouble.... Where else can you drive the wrong way on a one-way street at 60 miles-per-hour? from Police on Patrol--The Other Side of the Story, by Linda Kleinschmidt
Ten-percent of cops are honest, ten-percent are dishonest, and eighty-percent wish they were honest.... [T]here have never been any real department incentives for cops to be honest, from the police academy up through the ranks to the police commissioner. --Detective Frank Serpico, NYPD
The public, what does the fucking public know? --typical opinion voiced by 30,000 New York City police officers, according to Detective Frank Serpico
My job was to root out and investigate police corruption, and criminals who've infiltrated the police department.... Sure I went after other policemen. After other policemen that were criminals who happened to join the police department. There were drug dealers, murderers, rapists. These are the types of policemen that I went after. The general public should know there are real, serious criminals in the police department. I don't believe that it should be hidden. Let the policemen know that someone they worked with was a murderer, or a drug dealer. --Detective Vincent Murano, NYPD Internal Affairs, from Cop Hunter
The repeal of Prohibition in 1933 did nothing to change the way... speakeasies did business.... There were actually more bootleggers in town after Prohibition was repealed than there were during the dry years.... A patrolman's arsenal included tear gas and sawed-off shotguns -- and not for the war against the bootleggers. There was no such war during Prohibition.... The heavy weaponry was for labor strife... and the various rabble-rousing free-speechers who were always trying to organize.... They were basically bagmen for bootleggers and enforcers of the status quo....--Timothy Egan with Sheriff Tony Bamonte, from Breaking Blue
[D]uring the 1800s, with police underpaid and untrained, police work, with all its opportunities for extortion and bribes, led to corruption. The police of many cities earned a reputation for being ruffians who constantly guzzled free beer. Burlesque sketches typified the cop as a bully or villain.--Philip Purpura, from Criminal Justice, An Introduction
Let it be understood once and for all, that the function of the traffic court is to convict the guilty, acquit the innocent, and improve traffic safety, not to be merely an arm of any revenue-collecting office.
–Judge Alfred Nesbitt, Florida v. Aquilera, et. al., State v. 711-101S Dade Co. (1979 FL--the RADAR case of the 86 MPH tree and the 28 MPH house)
In America, the cost of justice even in the simplest of cases is prohibitive for ordinary citizens to bear…. I would rather watch the ant engage the elephant in mortal combat than witness the usual unequal matches between the government and the individual. Guilty or not, most people charged with crimes give up and plead guilty.
--Gerry Spence, from From Freedom to Slavery
The use of courts as local revenue-producing agencies is an abuse of the judicial process. It has long been recognized as unconstitutional for a judge's income to be dependent on the outcome of cases. But a similar result often occurs when the budget of a court is set in relation to the fines the court imposes or when a county or city comes to rely on whatever surplus is produced.
–To Serve All People: A report from the Commission on the Future of the Tennessee Judicial System 1996
Strictly local municipal courts offer a separate, substandard justice and warrant a thourough review on their own. . . . At their worst, they are merely revenue-gathering agencies masquerading as courts. Their sole reason for being is the funds that their municipality draws from them. If the funds disappeared, few of the cities would consider the court an important civic service. Their limits and oversight are ill-defined, and their flexibility can sometimes disguise mere arbitrariness. . . . We believe they fall much closer to the worst model than to the best one. A majority of complaints about judges that come to the Administrative Office of the Courts originate with municipal courts. . . . [T]he financial interest of local government clearly rests with the present system.
–To Serve All People: A report from the Commission on the Future of the Tennessee Judicial System 1996
For decades, speed was the subject of the most widespread slogans drummed into the public. "Speed kills" and "slow down and live" are familiar ones peddled by the National Safety Council.... The findings showed a more complex picture of the role of speed than had ever been assumed before. Accident involvement rates are at a minimum at speeds between fifty and seventy five miles per hour.... Although obviously the severity of accidents is greater at higher speeds, the study revealed that considering accident frequency rates and severity, the number of injuries per vehicle miles traveled is at its minimum [up to six times lower--JL]. --Ralph Nader, from Unsafe at Any Speed, quoting David Soloman in "Accidents on Main Rural Highways Related to Speed, Driver and Vehicle," FHwA (1964)
Speed traps are twentieth-century's version of highway robbery and there is no need to roll over and play dead. You have the right to defend yourself in a court of law, where the burden of proof lies with the officer pointing that radar gun at you. --Radio Association Defending Airwaves Rights (RADAR), from Case Dismissed II
The typical bureau of motor vehicles is filled with deservedly low-paid clerks and run by an assortment of genial "pols" with utterly no training or interest in traffic safety.
--Dr. Daniel Moynihan, Assistant Secretary of Labor
Daniel Patrick Moynihan is the finest senator ever. Period!
--George Will
The law embodies an invincible rationale: "He had an accident; therefore he violated the law." No distinction is made between responsibility for the accident and responsibility for the injury due to unsafe vehicle design or construction. Manslaughter charges are filed routinely against drivers; there is yet to be recorded any similar charges against the manufacturers for vehicle defects.... A typical police traffic accident report has a list of "contributing circumstances" which the officer is to check off: "Speed too fast; failed to yield right of way; drove left of center; improper overtaking; passed stop sign; ran traffic signal; improper lights; had been drinking; and other improper driving." ...Thus the driver is heir to all the dangers created by the automobile designers, not only in terms of bodily injury but also in terms of legal exposure. The result of this drastic imbalance in the law is the very poor quality of accident investigation in this country.... Consequently, enforcement of the law brings no pressure on the car makers to increase the safety of their vehicles.
--Ralph Nader, from Unsafe at any Speed
[Question: Does the current government emphasis on waging a drunk-driving/drink-driving war divert attention from the real causes of injury and death, such as uncrashworthy vehicles?] "Well, if the emphasis is on the driver and not the vehicle, and that's a fight we've been having for years, they shouldn't be against one another, they should be both, a focus on both."
--Ralph Nader, from an interview with John Lee
Every one of the 146 million drivers in the United States can, statistically, expect to be in a crash once in a decade.... This mayhem cannot be dismissed as mere bad driving. Bad transportation facilities are slaughtering good drivers and making bad drivers worse. Thus, state of the art engineering recognizes that defective roads are a major proximate cause of this slaughter.
--Richard Kurlman, from Killer Roads: from Crash to Verdict
Designing a highway to compensate for poor driving behavior is one of the highway engineer's major problems.... Highways should be designed to accomodate all drivers in relative safety, including reasonable provisions for those whom driving competence has been seriously impaired regardless of whether it be due to emotional problems, alcohol or other factors.
--American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO), from A Policy on Design of Urban Highways and Arterial Streets
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
--George Santayana, from The Life of Reason -- Reason in Common Sense
Throw away holiness and wisdom,
and people will be a hundred times happier.
Throw away morality and justice,
and people will do the right thing.
Throw away industry and profit,
and there won't be any theives....
When taxes are too high,
people go hungry.
When the government is too intrusive,
the people lost their spirit.
Act for the people's benifit.
Trust them; leave them alone.
–Lao-tzu, from Tao Te Ching (circa 500 B.C.)
Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.
–President Thomas Jefferson
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.... Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad.
--Aldous Huxley
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