Quote of the day—C.S. Lewis

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.

C.S. Lewis
1948
God in the Dock
[See also this more recent and on topic interpretation.

This is the essence of most of those who demands we give up our guns. Don’t ever forget they think of us as infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals and they demand to control us. For our own good.—Joe]

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3 thoughts on “Quote of the day—C.S. Lewis

  1. Another quote along the same lines: “If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.” — Henry Thoreau
    “For our own good” is certainly the common excuse. Whether that notion is sincerely held by most of those pushing the argument remains to be proven. It certainly is the charitable way to evaluate the situation.

    • That’s right. In fact the language is “for the greater good” (greater than your good) or “for the common good” (not yours).

      Add to that their assertion that there are far too many people on Earth. Look into the left’s history of supporting all manner of tyrants and communist regimes, and it is clear that they aren’t driven by compassion, but by insecurity, fear and hate.

      Whether they knowingly engage in tactical lies to put a nice face on it or they’ve managed to convince themselves that their hate is compassion is somewhat beside the point. That is, unless you’re trying to form a plan for rehabilitating them.

      Coercive redistribution is the lifeblood of the left. They choose to see coercion as compassion. They love it. To them, coercion is all goodness, light and glory. It is life itself.

      Point out that coercion is the singular goal and lifeblood of their political system and then let them defend coercion as compassion. THEN we will have come to the bottom line on the political spreadsheet.

      Being as the left sees coercion as life, they must necessarily see liberty as death. THAT is the one reason why they hate you– All the other stuff is smoke and mirrors.

      It is very much like a heroin addict. He sees the drug as the cure when in fact it is nourishing the disease. Try to take away the left’s drug, which is wholesale coercion, and they’ll kill you.

      So; how do you get an addict to see that he’s engaged in destructive behavior, such that he’ll go willingly into rehabilitation? How do you force him into rehabilitation? There several levels of response, but I think we’re on the right track with that analogy.

      • The only way an addict willingly goes into rehabilitation is when they hit rock bottom. Rock bottom is different for everybody. Unfortunately for those of us on the side of liberty, the left is no where near rock bottom. I believe they are still in denial, they “have it under control” they “can quit any time they want.” Unfortunately by the time an addict does hit rock bottom they have frequently taken those around them down also. I dont see this ending well.

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