Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Mark Steyne on Freedom of Speech

I was recently pleased to attend an IPA function in defence of Andrew Bolt and Freedom of Speech. One of the most entertaining speakers was Mark Styne. Even though Mark is well known overseas, his intellect and wit is seldom heard by Australia audiences. His cogent and well-grounded thoughts and ideas are anathema to the dominant illiberal left leaning media in this country. Here is some of his finest work. Federal Court judge Mordy Bromberg could learn something from this.


Mark Steyn on Free Speech at the IPA from Institute of Public Affairs on Vimeo.

Wise Men Go Unheard by The Masses

Here are a couple of quotes that explain a lot of crazy stuff going on in the world today.
This one seems especially pertinent to Greece today with possibly Italy to follow.

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years.”
Possibly, Alexander Tytler (circa late 1700′s)

This one speaks to me about Australia. I fear we are transitioning from complacency to apathy.

“Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage.” Henning Webb Prentis, Jr., President of the Armstrong Cork Company 1943