“Did you really think we want those laws observed?” said Dr. Ferris. “We want them to be broken. You’d better get it straight that it’s not a bunch of boy scouts you’re up against... We’re after power and we mean it... There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that’s the system, Mr. Reardon, that’s the game, and once you understand it, you’ll be much easier to deal with.”
- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
I think they are setting everyone up to have them guilty of “something” so they can use the enforcement section of it to clamp down in a “soft police state” format that slowly evolves into the soviet gulag type....
- reposted for readability
Excellent Ayn Rand quote. There was another great quote of hers that I have been trying to find, but I can’t find it. Maybe with all the great Ayn Rand fans here...
Essentially, she says when one can’t simply tear down a monument to something that is truly great, then just build a thousand monuments to mediocrity all around it and soon the great one will be lost in the noise. Sounds like something out of Fountainhead. Anyone recall that one?