You have to love Feingold’s response during this Patriot Act debate exchange. It gives me goosebumps. If anyone knows of a video of this out on the Internet, I’d love to see it (and probably break the mystique I’ve now placed around the exchange).
Sen. John Cornyn: “None of your civil liberties matter much after you’re dead.” Sen. Russ Feingold: “Give me liberty or give me death.”
Thanks, SBG, and your new blog, Founded on Dissent, for this set of quotes.
Comments (5)
That Feingold quote is pretty tight. It’d be nice if he were referring to economic liberty, too, but I won’t hold my breath.
How closely does economic liberty relate to the PATRIOT Act? (I forgot in my initial post that PATRIOT is an acronym - I think, anyway.)
I don’t think there is much relation, but I’d be interested to know if Feingold really believes in liberty in general or it’s just a catchy phrase used to slam Cornyn.
It may be a catchy phrase and it may just be a Democrat taking an opportunity, but it still rings true. It probably would have had more impact if it came from a Senator on the right. Then it’d be theoretically more believable.
If you do determine Feingold’s stand on liberty, feel free to let us know.
I think he’s for it, unless he’s against it. Depends on whether the particular legislation promotes Wisconsin’s commercial and agricultural interests. That’s what I gather from his website.
It is a fun quote, though.