Quote of the day—Hal Lillywhite

Actors are good at acting, at pretending to be what they are not. They earn their living in a fantasy world, and I fear that many of them lose touch with reality. Their talent does not include any particular wisdom; if it did we would see fewer Hollywood stars in the news for all the wrong reasons.

Hal Lillywhite
2015
From chapter 27 in Freedom or Serfdom?: The Case for Limited, Constitutional Government and Against Statism
[Via a comment to Dear Julianne Moore: Strict Gun Control Makes Single Women Prime Targets For Rape and Murder.

As I have said before:

Think of it this way. In this case we have the police and the military on our side of the issue, as well as nine Supreme Court Justices who agree the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right. The anti-gun side has someone who plays make-believe for a living.

They get a lot of attention but convincing friends, neighbors, and politicians to vote your way is easier and more important than convincing actors to read your lines.—Joe]

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6 thoughts on “Quote of the day—Hal Lillywhite

  1. Joe, there were never nine SCOTUS justices who agreed that there is an individual right to keep and bear arms. There were five. Now there are maybe four, maybe. As for bearing arms (outside the home) there appear to be perhaps three.

    • Read the dissent in Heller. They agreed it is an individual right. It, in the minority opinion, just didn’t extend so far as to cover the case in front of them.

      • If a justice can’t understand the plain English of the Constitution, it isn’t much consolation to see such a person’s concurrence. In the absence of a brain capable of understanding principles, you have no way to predict what the answer will be next time. That’s the problem we have with most government employees — 99% of Congress, 100% of the current executive branch (and well over 90% at the best of times), the vast majority of the judicial branch including most of the Supreme Court.

        • I agree. But it’s a much more powerful, and absolutely correct, statement to say all nine justices agreed it is an individual right. This is going to demoralize them more than if they think they are only one vote away from SCOTUS saying it’s a “collective right” that only applies to the National Guard.

  2. You know how you “convince actors to read your lines”? You pay them.

    No doubt there are left-wing actors who would refuse a hefty paycheck because they disagree with a role’s politics… but I can’t think of such a case.

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