“Can a nation be free if it oppresses other nations? It cannot.”
Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian politician, led the October Revolution
Midwest Airlines Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 3, 2003 http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/10/20031003-4.html <br class="br">2000s, 2003
“Can a nation be free if it oppresses other nations? It cannot.”
Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian politician, led the October Revolution
Rudolph Rummel (1932–2014) American academic
Source: The Blue Book of Freedom: Ending Famine, Poverty, Democide, and War (2007), p. 14
Wendell Berry (1934) author
"A Bad Big Idea".
Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community (1993)
Context: Anybody interested in solving, rather than profiting from, the problems of food production and distribution will see that in the long run the safest food supply is a local food supply, not a supply that is dependent on a global economy. Nations and regions within nations must be left free — and should be encouraged — to develop the local food economies that best suit local needs and local conditions.
Gerry Spence (1929) American lawyer
Have We Already Been Defeated? (2001)
Context: The goal of a free nation is to reveal by example the enlightened possibilities of the human race, not to wield its power of destruction and death over the helpless, the poor, the starving and the war torn masses. The goal of a free nation must be no different outside its borders than within them. In America we do not massacre whole towns because they may be the chosen domicile of a criminal or a conspiracy of criminals. Instead we carefully root out the felons and bring them to justice.
Dennis Kucinich (1946) Ohio politician
"Peace as a Civil Right" from A Prayer for America (2003) [Nation Books, ISBN 1-56025-510-2], p. 76
Václav Havel (1936–2011) playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and 1st President of the Czech Republic
Living in Truth (1986), An Anatomy of Reticence
Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American politician, 28th president of the United States (in office from 1913 to 1921)
Address on Latin American Policy before the Southern Commercial Congress http://books.google.com/books?id=_VYEIml1cAkC&q=%22I+would+rather+belong+to+a+poor+nation+that+was+free+than+to+a+rich+nation+that+had+ceased+to+be+in+love+with+liberty%22&pg=PA20#v=onepage Mobile, Alabama (27 October 1913) <br class="br">1910s
Rudolph Rummel (1932–2014) American academic
Source: The Blue Book of Freedom: Ending Famine, Poverty, Democide, and War (2007), p. 13
George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States
2000s, 2002, State of the Union address (January 2002)