C. S. Lewis About Liberty and Tyranny

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.  It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.  The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep…his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” ~  C. S. Lewis

Knowledge

Some students drink at the fountain of knowledge, others just gargle. ~ E. C. McKenzie

New Movie Series: "America. Her People. Her Stories."

The following excerpt is from the Dr. Gregory J.W. Urwin's commentary in the movie "The Battle of Bunker Hill" (2009, video documentary short) http://www.bunkerhilldvd.com/ .

The movie was produced and directed by Tony Malanowski, and associate producers William Chemerka and Kevin Reem." This is the first movie in movie series "America. Her People. Her Stories. -The way your children learn about the history of the United States is about to change forever."

"One of the surprising things about American Revolution is that a lot of Americans didn’t support it. But there was this special core of patriots who endured all the hardship all the dangers we associate with war, and even more so then than today, because American government was new, it was weak, it could not always pay people, people often went years without pay, troops went years without pay, very often they were short of food, there war periods when they were short of uniforms, the fact that there were enough people who stuck with it under those circumstances to beat the British, to establish independence was incredible.”

And what they were trying to overthrow was not a typical European or Byzantine tyrant, they were rebelling against the most liberal government on Earth for a cause or a series of causes that we might consider a bit esoteric today. They had to understand what is it they are risking and why, what the taxes are doing to them and what representation meant. People made tremendous sacrifices, because of what they believed in: the individual rights, the rights of the new nation.

One thing that today young people could learn from the revolution is that if you want things to get better, if you want freedom to flourish, if you want to live in a country where your rights and the rights of your neighbors are respected, you can’t leave that to anyone else, you can’t outsource that. The revolutionary generation believed in something they called public virtue. They felt that liberty will only endure if the people supported it. And you must defend your country in wartime, and in peace time keeping your eye on the government, keeping an eye on policies, voting, making sure that the best people were guiding your fortunes in the legislative and the executive and judicial branches of your government."

~ Dr. Gregory J.W. Urwin, Professor of History, Temple University

http://www.bunkerhilldvd.com/

Paul Newman as Frank Galvin in "The Verdict"

What an extraordinary movie and extraordinary performances by stellar actors! I just had to transcribe some excerpts.

Frank Galvin's opening remarks:

"Your honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury... it's a terrible thing to sit in judgment. So much rides on it. I know that you have thought, 'How can I be pure? How can, uh - 'How can I be... impartial without being cold? How can I be, uh...merciful and still be just I know that some of you have said prayers today...to be helped to judge correctly. Uh, we have the reputation of two men - two, um... well-respected doctors before us... and a renowned hospital. And with them we have my client... Deborah Ann Kaye who is deprived of sight... of speech... of hearing...of locomotion, of ... well, in short of everything that constitutes her life. We will prove... that she was deprived through negligence, through the negligence of these respected men..."

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Frank Galvin's closing remarks:

"Mr. Galvin."

"Mr. Galvin?"

"Summation?"

"Well... you know, so much of the time we're just lost. We say, 'Please, God. Tell us what is right. Tell us what is true.' I mean, there is no justice. The rich win, the poor are powerless. We become... tired of hearing people lie. And after a time, we become dead, we think of ourselves... as victims. And we become victims. We become - We become weak. We doubt ourselves. We doubt our beliefs. We doubt our institutions. And we doubt the law.

But today, you are the law. You are the law...not some book, not the lawyers... not a marble statue... or the trappings of the court. You see, those are just symbols...of our desire... to be just. Well, they are - They are, in fact, a prayer. I mean, a fervent and frightened prayer. In my religion... they say, 'Act as if ye had faith. Faith will be given to you.'  If - If we are to have faith in justice...we need only to believe in ourselves... and act with justice. See, I believe there is justice in our hearts. "  

• American Rhetoric: Movie Speech: "The Verdict" (1982)
• No Overturning Lumet's ‘Verdict'