Democracy implies as a necessary condition that our opinions are worthwhile, and liberty similarly demands adults to receive it and exercise it knowingly and moderately. But there is no way to train children up to democracy than through choice, or to liberty except through letting loose the restraints. A child who is never called upon to dress himself will not know how to do so as a man. "The best way," Harry Truman said, "to find out if you can trust a man, is to trust him." It is not only the best way to find out; you can train people to be trustworthy by placing confidence in them. Trust is a marvellous irrigant; it makes even barren lands bloom. Milton described the self reliance, the trust of others, which is the root of freedom of speech: "Read any books whatever come to thy hands, for thou art sufficient both to judge aright, and to examine each matter.... Prove all things, hold fast that which is good...."free speech rule book
"America was never innocent. We popped our cherry on the boat over and looked back with no regrets. You can't ascribe our fall from grace to any single event or set of circumstances. You can't lose what you lacked at conception.
"Mass-market nostalgia gets you hopped up for a past that never existed. Hagiography sanctifies shuck-and-jive politicians and reinvents their expedient gestures as moments of great moral weight. Our continuing narrative line is blurred past truth and hindsight. Only a reckless verisimilitude can set that line straight."
--James Ellroy, American Tabloid
Ensure a Free and Fair Election (Ban Paperless Voting Machines
"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words."
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