On the record
Liberty always demands a limitation of political authority, and it is never attained unless the rulers of a state can, where necessary, be called to account.
Said by
Harold J. Laski
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gutenberg.orgHarold J. Laski: “Liberty always demands a limitation of political authority, and it is never attained unless the rulers of a state can…”
Editor's note · Context
Laski believes that liberty requires limitations on political authority and accountability for rulers.
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More from Harold J. Laski
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.
The intolerance may be Catholic, when it insists that a unity of outlook is essential for the preservation of society; or it may be Protestant when, as with Calvin and the Socinians, it holds that the blasphemous nature of the belief…
Each age makes some idol in its own image and sacrifices upon its altar the freedom of those who refuse it worship.
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.
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