True liberty is thus so far from being an absence of restraint that it is essentially subordination to a system of rational purposes which receive their highest expression in the activity of the state.
Harold J. Laski: “True liberty is thus so far from being an absence of restraint that it is essentially subordination to a system of…”
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Harold J. Laski
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gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
Laski argues that true liberty involves a commitment to rational purposes, which are best expressed through the state.
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The essence of the persecuting position is always that the persecutor has hold of truth and that he would betray its service by allowing it to be questioned.
We grant it in religion to deny it in politics; we grant it in politics, to deny it in economic matters.
Each age makes some idol in its own image and sacrifices upon its altar the freedom of those who refuse it worship.
He is able, accordingly, to indulge in the twofold luxury not only of preserving his own authority, but also of assisting the persons attacked to enter, if they so choose, the way of truth.





