Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
The author warns that allowing government detention without explanation undermines American values and mimics enemies.
In plain terms
If the government can arrest anyone without explanation, it acts like our enemies.
What can you take from it?
Civil liberties are essential to maintaining a free society.

Where it applies

  • policy debate
  • civil liberties
  • security discussion

Putting it to work

  • review detention policies
  • discuss civil rights
  • analyze government power

Questions to consider

  • How much security is worth losing liberty?
  • What makes a nation free?

Another view

It equates security measures directly with becoming like enemies.

More from Garrison Keillor

  1. None of the men and women who voted for this bill has any right to speak in public about the rule of law anymore, or to take a high moral view of the Third Rei…

    Permalink to quote #7
  2. It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my home town, out on the edge of the prairie...

    Permalink to quote #9
  3. Jesus said the meek would inherit the earth, but so far all we've gotten is Minnesota and North Dakota.

    Permalink to quote #6

Related quotes

  1. Political agitation, by the passions it arouses or the convictions it engenders, may in fact stimulate men to the violation of the law. Detestation of existing…

    Learned HandLearned Hand quote #5
  2. The idea is that the state doesn't have rights to limit individuals' wants and passions. I disagree with that. I think we absolutely have rights because there …

    Rick SantorumRick Santorum quote #6
  3. At home, the public has come to accept torture as a legitimate instrument of government, something that the Founding Fathers would have been aghast at. We have…

    Andrew SullivanAndrew Sullivan quote #6