Orin Kerr over at The Volokh Conspiracy referred to Learned Hand’s great 1944 speech (one that forensics students have studied for years and years) given on I Am An American Day.
It’s useful to compare this speech with those ofthe Dixiecrats just four years later to remind ourselves that the world has always been a pretty complicated place. An excerpt:
What then is the spirit of liberty? I cannot define it; I can only tell you my own faith. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the mind of other men and women; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interests alongside its own without bias; the spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded; the spirit of liberty is the spirit of Him who, near two thousand years ago, taught mankind that lesson it has never learned but never quite forgotten; that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest.
As a devout nonchurchgoer, I can tell you that the final directly Christian phase evokes the great contibutions of Christianity to Western and liberal thought.
But the key phrase to me is: “The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right…” That’s something I’m working on pretty hard, and something I look for and care about in other commentators.
“The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right…”
Can I get an “AMEN!” 😉
In reference to the Rachel Lucas post above, that is one thing I find most offensive about Angel Shamaya’s comments – the “possessor or revealed truth” attitude he holds.
Possessor OF revealed truth.
(Proofread, proofread, proofread. THEN post.)
A small quibble, and one perhaps just shows that I’m missing the whole point:
“The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right…”
The spirit of liberty always acts as though it is sure it is right…it is just prepared to change its mind at a moment’s notice. A difficult balancing act, and one that we have all too often failed at. To fall off of one side results in ignorant prejudice…to fall off the other side results in our watching evil being committed because we’re waiting for the results of that last study.
Re Angel:
Yeah, I feel very much the same way; it’s the ‘I have the truth handed down directly from God’ attitude (that many people have) which I find annoying and ineffective.
He’s as frustrating as (pick annoying self-righteous leftist/rightist of your choice) Moore or Colter to me.
More so, since he speaks for my team.
A.L.