FC: Salon's Norah Vincent, ex-civil libertarian: "Freedom begets evil"

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[Well, yes, freedom can beget evil, but evil seems to be found even more in 
restrictive societies that sharply curtail liberty. This seems to be a sad 
case of a columnist looking for a good line and a convenient defection than 
any thoughtful "reevaluation." --Declan]

---

http://salon.com/news/col/vincent/2001/11/02/libertarians/index_np.html

   Freedom begets evil, and other realizations
   For civil libertarians -- like myself -- war is a time for some harsh
   reevaluation.

   By Norah Vincent

   Nov. 2, 2001 | Civil libertarians can be so smug. I should know. I am
   one. Or, I have professed to be one until now. Proudly, as it happens.
   Haughtily even. "I'm with the good guys," I told myself. "Not the
   theocrats. Not the anarchists. Just the right on, straight shooting,
   Bill of Rights toting crowd."

   Not anymore. Now it seems I'm with the sticklers, the devils who revel
   in the details, the litigious brake-slammers every American is
   learning to hate. That is to say, I'm still a civil libertarian, but
   I'm not always so proud of it anymore. And, if we're honest with
   ourselves, none of us should be.

   The reason is very simple. Freedom begets evil.

   [...] 




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