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AUTHORITIES FIND SOFT PENALTIES PRODUCE MORE CRIME. ? YA DON’T SAY. WHO’DA GUESSED?

 
 


Posted by peiper    United Kingdom   on 02/19/2010 at 11:49 AM   
 
  1. What a great place to add an annoying new feature to Bmews. The “Guess who said” it without googling test.Here ya go gang:

    TODAYS “Who Said This”
    ...it is the duty of our political parties and our candidates to go before the people with the facts.

    Now, there are various ways of doing this, and some of these are more dramatic and interesting than others. But in a democracy, everyone engaged in politics has a duty--a moral duty--to try to keep public debate reasonable and based on a fair discussion of the issues.

    That brings me to another danger which threatens our democracy from within, and that is the “big lie.” The “big lie” is a weapon of political warfare which was developed by the Communists and perfected by Hitler, and is now being used on a worldwide scale by the Soviet Union.

    The technique of the “big lie” consists of two things. It consists first of making a charge against one’s opponents which is frightening and horrible and so extreme that nobody could believe that a decent person would make it if it were not true. Hitler explained this very clearly. He said that if a lie is bold enough people will think there is some truth in it because it would never occur to them, in their own experience, to lie on such an exaggerated scale.

    The second part of the “big lie” technique is to keep repeating the lie over and over again, ignoring all proof to the contrary.

    The “big lie” technique is immoral and subversive. It is not a weapon which democratic society can afford to use. It violates the rules of the political game which underlie our constitutional form of government. It violates them in just the same way that riot and revolution violate them.

    We have no place for this sort of thing in America. If we permit its use, our constitutional form of government can be destroyed. It is a tool used by Hitler and Stalin, and it is just as un-American as they are.

    Unfortunately, there is a tendency in this country today to resort to the use of the “big lie” in order to reap personal and partisan advantage. It is a “big lie,” for example, to say that we tolerate Communists and other disloyal persons in our Government. It is a “big lie” to attack one of the greatest generals and patriots whom this country ever had and call him a traitor.

    A man who uses the weapon of the “big lie” is not a good man. He should be rejected by all good citizens, regardless of party. Partisan feeling often runs high in election campaigns. That is understandable. But it should not lead us to permit the use of this dangerous Communist technique in American politics.

    These are some of the dangers that threaten our Government from within today. I am sure that we will overcome them. I am sure that the work of this Conference will help overcome them, and will lead to a better understanding and a wider exercise of the precious rights of American citizenship.

    Posted by Rich K    United States   02/19/2010  at  03:40 PM  

  2. Given your discourse on the big lie - I’d vote for Obama for the ‘facts’ statement - most simply because I do not think that man could tell the truth if you paid him.

    We are here for three reasons - there is no longer any (or so it seems) stomach for treason accusations/trials and there has been a systematic destruction of the criminal justice system so that the criminal is more important than the victim, the crime and as a result - society. And that the Left (with willing accomplices on the Right) have created a vast entitlement culture.

    Posted by wardmama4    United States   02/19/2010  at  04:26 PM  

  3. Not even close WM but I will have the answer here saturday if no one figures out the WHO part.Think famous folk from the past as this will be the theme if I ever do this again,Drew Willing that is,,,hehe.

    Posted by Rich K    United States   02/19/2010  at  08:41 PM  

  4. We’re way off topic but okay. I can’t resist and unless Turtler is here to correct me,you wrote ...

    The “big lie” is a weapon of political warfare which was developed by the Communists and perfected by Hitler, and is now being used on a worldwide scale by the Soviet Union.

    Well, Not exactly.  Dr. Goebbels ran the ministry for public enlightenment and propaganda and it did work rather well.  BUT, and I think it’s an important but, his big lie didn’t get the foothold outside Germany to the large degree that Soviet propaganda did.

    There were to be sure many folks here in England as elsewhere who were already disposed to Anti-Semitism anyway, so there wasn’t anyone to convert.  National Socialism was pretty much a one trick pony.  On the other hand, the promise of a Communist utopia took in a very large number of people even among what I suppose we can describe as “the ruling classes.” Otherwise loyal Americans (dupes really)who thought they might save America from itself, turned to Communism.  The Nazis had great art and stirring posters and truly inspiring martial music, but they didn’t stir many outside their immediate sphere of influence to the degree that Soviet propaganda did.

    He said that if a lie is bold enough people will think there is some truth in it because it would never occur to them, in their own experience, to lie on such an exaggerated scale.

    I think the quote belongs to Goebbels again and I have read it as:

    “Any lie provided it is big enough and repeated often enough, will be believed.”

    I know both Hitler and Goebbels are credited with the quote, and I first came across it as a Goebbels quote. Then years later I ran across it again but by then it was attributed to AH.  I guess it doesn’t much matter who said what first, there is a scary truth in it.

    With regard to your quote above.
    At first I was tempted to suggest Ronald Reagan because in my mind’s eye, I kinda thought he would think in those terms.  It’s certainly expressed in a way that sounds like him. But then it bothered me a whole lot because the more I repeated the damn phrase the more familiar it sounded.  It definitely was not FDR, and I really do recall speeches by Ike mostly coz they were so damn boring. I mean, he was not a great public speaker. Hardly any of out modern presidents were that. But I’ll tell ya who I think it sounds like and I am not even close to certain about this either.
    “The buck stops here.” I do remember Truman quite well as he was a favorite among the democrats in our family when I was young. I am NOT saying it was Truman coz I don’t know for sure. But the quote has the same ring to it that the “Buck” quote has.
    We thought of him (Truman) as a very honest man although he too was not a great public speaker.

    Posted by peiper    United Kingdom   02/20/2010  at  04:10 AM  

  5. DING DING DING! See Peiper, even though you werent sure, the words rang true enough from your knowledge of old Harry that you found the correct answer:
    HARRY S TRUMAN-Part of a speech in 1952 given at the National Conference on Citizenship.

    Posted by Rich K    United States   02/20/2010  at  06:44 AM  

  6. That’s funny coz after I posted my comment I kind of swung back to Reagan again thinking, that really does sound so Reagan-ish as well. Of course I couldn’t vote when Truman was elected but followed things as that’s what the grownups were all talking about. Back in those days, at least in our times before puters and MP3s etc., when the President of the USA went on telly to give a speech or there was a press conference, most people tuned in and watched or listened. No cable or satellite TV. Wow. Primitive huh? And no color TV either.And no remote control to zap commercials. How did we survive?

    Ah but by the time Reagan came along I was a voter you bet.  Voted for him as gov and president. Wish we had him back.

    Posted by peiper    United Kingdom   02/20/2010  at  07:10 AM  

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