
"We are Power" speech (1980)
Misattributed
"We are Power" speech (1980)
“It has come to my attention, that air pollution is polluting the air!”
“One must be a sea, to receive a polluted stream without becoming impure.”
Source: Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Source: Democracy and Political ignorance: Why smaller government is better (2013), p. 6
Context: In the same way, it is not necessarily paternalistic to advocate the restriction of air pollution. Individual citizens and firms may produce more air pollution than any of them actually want because they know that there is little to be gained from uncoordinated individual restraint. If I avoid driving a gas-guzzling car, the impact on the overall level of air pollution w ill be utterly insignificant. So I have no incentive to take it into account in making my driving decisions even if I care greatly about reducing air pollution. Widespread public ignorance is a type of pollution that infects the political system rather than our physical environment.
Reported in Robert Krier (January 31, 2008) "Waiting to Inhale: Don't take a breath without the report from our Air Pollution Control District", The San Diego Union-Tribune, p. E-1.
Attributed
Columbus Day Speech, San Francisco (1992)
Cultural Jam (2000)
Source: https://www.jou.ufl.edu/alumni-and-friends/cjc-environment-voices/cynthia-barnett/