Civil Liberties Quotes - Page 5

• Obama behaves like a centrist who leans tentatively left on certain social programs but boldly right on military force and civil liberties.

  David K. Shipler

  Military, Liberty, Social

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• Let no man think we can deny civil liberty to others and retain it for ourselves.

  Robert M. La Follette, Sr.

  Men, Thinking, Liberty

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• The power of these recommendations is that they come from leaders representing a broad spectrum of religious conviction. At the table were people with Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Native American and humanist perspectives, as well as individuals from advocacy groups ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to the American Center for Law and Justice.

  Charles Haynes

  Christian, Religious, Native American

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• If the true spark of religious and civil liberty be kindled, it will burn.

  Daniel Webster

  Religious, Religion, Liberty

  Daniel Webster, Edward Everett (1851). “The Works of Daniel Webster ...”, p.75

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• The most important civil liberty... is to stay alive and to be free from violence and death.

  John Howard

  Important, Liberty, Alive

  National Summit on Terrorism, August 05, 2005.

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• I think when people talk about civil liberties, they sometimes forget that action taken to protect the citizen against physical violence and physical attack is a blow in favour and not a blow against civil liberties.

  John Howard

  Taken, Blow, Thinking

  National Summit on Terrorism, August 05, 2005.

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• Republicans are horrible with civil liberties, and not so good with dollars and cents. Democrats are horrible with dollars and cents, and not so good with civil liberties.

  Gary Johnson

  Liberty, Dollars, Republican

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• Terrorism is escalating to the point that Americans soon may have to choose between civil liberties and more intrusive means of protection.

  William Cohen

  Freedom, Mean, America

  "Under Siege". www.wired.com. October 30, 1998.

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• The Cause of civil liberty must not be surrendered at the end of one, or even one hundred defeats.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Liberty, Civil Rights, Causes

  Abraham Lincoln, Mario Matthew Cuomo, G. S. Boritt (2004). “Lincoln on Democracy”, p.136, Fordham Univ Press

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• The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws . . . The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and his Apostles . . . This is genuine Christianity and to this we owe our free constitutions of government.

  Noah Webster

  4th Of July, Government, Law

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• Since 9/11 the United States has been followed by countries with bad records, such as the former Soviet Union countries, into erosions of human rights. Because the United States has changed its standards it is undermining civil liberties elsewhere.

  Mary Robinson

  Country, Rights, Erosion

  Source: www.opendemocracy.net

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• Every person with a pulse has a responsibility to stand in solidarity with the Muslim community that is on the front lines fighting against groups like ISIS, both militarily and ideologically, every day, and now on the front line of standing up for civil liberties and civil rights to make America great. [They] are the best insurance for the safety of all Americans.

  Van Jones

  Responsibility, Fighting, America

  Source: pen.org

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• It's just in Washington we're talking about equal rights for gay people, civil liberty to smoke marijuana, taking care of the environment, and it's all just decency and common sense and patriotism. And in other parts of the country that would be, like, inconceivable.

  Rick Steves

  Country, Gay, Marijuana

  Source: blog.sfgate.com

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• I spent my entire career trying to protect the Constitution, the civil rights and the civil liberties of American citizens and people who are here lawfully. I, as chair of this commission, would not be a party to any system that I felt was an unpardonable intrusion into the private lives of people. If I felt that what we are recommending would be such an intrusion I can assure you that recommendation would never have seen the light of day, not even as a pilot program.

  Barbara Jordan

  Party, Rights, Light

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• NATO is based on shared values. Democracy, individual civil liberties and the rule of law. In public and also in meetings with the allies, I have repeatedly pointed out how crucial these common values are. They are the basis for our unity, and unity is the most important basis for our strength.

  Jens Stoltenberg

  Unity, Democracy, Important

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• Our country has a lot of problems. When the world looks at how bad the United States is and then we go talk about civil liberties, I do not think we are a very good messenger. I don't know that we have a right to lecture. We are not in a position to be more aggressive. We have to fix our own mess.

  Marco Rubio

  Country, Thinking, Liberty

  Source: www.cbsnews.com

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• I fear that the impact of university censorship and university denial of due process will be to mis-educate a generation of students away from core values of civil liberties and constitutional safeguards. Students who have been led to believe by university administrators and faculty that censorship and denial of due process are acceptable norms will be more susceptible to accepting those norms in their post-university lives. That would be a tragedy for America.

  Alan Dershowitz

  Believe, Tragedy, Liberty

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

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• I believe, very strongly, that it is the responsible, adult, recreational, no apologies necessary, 'it just makes my music more fun,' recreational use of marijuana is a civil liberty.

  Rick Steves

  Fun, Believe, Apology

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• The federal war on drugs is a total failure... The federal government's going in there and overriding state laws... Why don't we handle the drugs like we handle alcohol? ... I fear the drug war because it undermines our civil liberties. It magnifies our problems on the borders. We've spent over the last 40 years a trillion dollars on this war and - believe me - the kids can still get the drugs. It just hasn't worked.

  Ron Paul

  War, Believe, Kids

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• There is so much each one of us can do to make a difference. We are at a dangerous juncture in the history of mankind. ... We need to defend our principles and values, human rights, civil liberties and the rule of international law. If we don't our world will further descend into a state of chaos.

  Bianca Jagger

  Rights, Our World, Law

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• We have less civil liberties than we had on 9/ 1 1 in some significant ways. But we are also, I believe, less safe as a result in many instances of the sacrifice in human rights, civil liberties, and the rule of law that (the Bush) administration has adopted.

  David D. Cole

  Believe, Sacrifice, Liberty

  Source: www.theislamicmonthly.com

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• We physicians have focused on the nuclear threat as the singular issue of our era. We are not indifferent to other human rights and hard-won civil liberties. But first we must be able to bequeath to our children the most fundamental of all rights, which preconditions all others; the right to survival.

  Bernard Lown

  Children, Issues, Rights

  Nobel Price Acceptance Speech, www.nobelprize.org. December 10, 1985.

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• We cannot simply suspend or restrict civil liberties until the War on Terror is over, because the War on Terror is unlikely ever to be truly over.

  Gerald Bard Tjoflat

  War, Liberty, Unlikely

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• I will not call myself a pacifist for the very simple reason that if something like a [Francisco] Franco should arise in Spain again, or, for that matter, in America, and tried to take away whatever dwindling civil liberties and human rights we retain, I would resist them with a club if I had to. But my admiration for pacifism as an outlook and a sensibility is enormous. I just find that it gets me into contradictions, as it often gets many pacifists into contradictory positions and strategies.

  Murray Bookchin

  Simple, America, Rights

  Interview with Jeff Riggenbach, reason.com. October 1979.

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• Critics have stepped up their attacks on the President for authorizing the National Security Agency to listen to international communications of known al Qaeda members or affiliated terrorists during a time of war. The American people expect their leaders to stay a step ahead of the enemy, and the National Security Agency authorization is a critical tool in the War on Terror that saves lives and protects civil liberties at the same time.

  Scott McClellan

  War, Communication, Agency

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