David Blunkett Quotes

The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism –-- ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.

Our liberty cannot depend on the good intention of those in power.

Tyranny naturally arises out of democracy.

Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it.

Only the history of free peoples is worth our attention; the history of men under a despotism is merely a collection of anecdotes.

If you give human beings power over others, their natural tendency is to be fascists.

Absolute power should never be trusted to man. It has perverted the wisest heads, and corrupted the best hearts in the world. I should be afraid to commit my property, liberty and life to a body of angels for one whole year.

When the tyranny of the state is combined with the hypocrisy of the church, you have a modern example of the twin vultures that have devoured man, and his rights, throughout the ages.

Advocating the expansion of the powers of the state is treason to mankind

Independently of its misdeeds, the mere power, — the bare existence of such a power, — is a thing irreconcilable with the nature and spirit of our institutions

Politics without responsibility IS fascism.

Speech has never defeated fascism.

One need only watch totalitarians at work to see that once men gain power over other men’s minds, that power is never used sparingly and wisely, but lavishly and brutally and with unspeakable results.

The world has to have zero tolerance for naked dictatorship.

If a nation wishes, it can have both free elections and slavery.

Without democracy freedom is a chimera

But on the other hand government takes away a certain amount of liberty and in some countries it takes away all of liberty. And it will, everywhere, if people who fight government do not fight government any longer.

Under the rule of a repressive whole, liberty can be made into a powerful instrument of domination.

Despotism increases in severity with the number of despots; the responsibility is more divided, and the claims are more numerous.

You can't, in the 21st century, continue to live in a system where people live under martial law for 30 years.

If I were dictator, I'd have a catch-all crime of disrespect.

The Cuban people still live in constant fear of a brutal totalitarian regime that has demonstrated time and again its utter disregard for basic human dignity. The fight for a free Cuba has gone on for far too long.

Since Castro took power, the Cuban people have been denied basic human freedoms. No freedom of religion, no freedom of the press, no political freedom. And the regime uses brutality and violence to suppress these freedoms and impose its will.

Democracy passes into despotism.

I have lived under totalitarian Communism, so I prize freedom as much as anyone and have long fought for freedom of conscience and speech.