11 quotes
They operate by administrative discretion and authority, not the rule of law: There is no legislature, no group lawmaking body.
The Liberals' Mistake (1987)
We have to look beyond the politicians to see a different future.
The Liberals' Mistake (1987)
There are no protections of autonomy and free speech.
The Liberals' Mistake (1987)
The country we live in is a laboratory. We have one experiment after another. Unfortunately, it is not a laboratory where no one gets hurt: some lives are enhanced, others are ruined.
The Liberals' Mistake (1987)
All of us are responding to the fact there is no system that can keep any promises. Everybody is fighting each other under the illusion that it is the "other people" that are causing the problem.
The Liberals' Mistake (1987)
The liberals were wide-ranging in their interests, ready to question the orthodoxies of the time, and looking for new horizons. It is always difficult to find people like that, but it is even more difficult today.
The Liberals' Mistake (1987)
The liberals were right when they insisted that we had enough food and goods for all of our people. But they did not — and we still do not — know how to distribute those goods in a rational way.
The Liberals' Mistake (1987)
When we get upset and angry about politics — whether it is conservative, liberal, or whatever — we tend to think in terms of right and wrong, not what we can learn.
The Liberals' Mistake (1987)
What we need is a concept of "gross national cost." Life is a balance sheet, not simply economic growth. It is income and outgo. And until we know what the cost of growth is we will continue to operate under an illusion.
The Liberals' Mistake (1987)
In The Greening of America, I did not mean that we would all become richer in material things, I meant that we would all become richer in the totality. I still think it is possible for that vision to become a reality.
The Liberals' Mistake (1987)
But we have managed to reverse that. Today, a great many people cannot find any work. People are dispossessed and cannot support themselves or their families. Many are homeless. For many others, work has become a rat race: something to be endured, not enjoyed.
The Liberals' Mistake (1987)