Logos.
The Word.
Rationality.
Discourse.
God.
This is my theology for freedom of speech.
Geoff Fox, 4th October, St Francis Feast Day, 2023
Category: freedom
Melting Pot #9 Ronald Reagan And Phyllis Schlafly And Theresa May
The Anglosphere has some really great thinkers who did good things in the real world for us to compare.
As part of Phyllis Schlafly Month, which I started to celebrate on the September, the 7th anniversary of the conservative thinker’s death, I now compare some of her thoughts with a few of former British Prime Minister, Theresa May, who was born on this day the 1st of October in 1956.
From May:
“You can’t solve a problem as complex as inequality in one legal clause.”
“I get cross about 13 years of Labour government that brought the country to the state it did.”
“I grew up the daughter of a local vicar and the granddaughter of a regimental sergeant major.”
From Schlafly:
“The purpose of our military is to field the finest troops possible to defend our nation and win wars.”
“I don’t think the GOP is going to die; I think Trump is going to revive it.”
“Remember, those that wait upon the Lord will rise up with wings like eagles, and they will run and not be weary. And don’t you ever be weary, because the battle goes on, year after year, and we need all of you young people to join us in the battle.”
Geoff Fox, 1st October, 2023
Women For Freedom #43 Brigitte Bardot
French screen legend, Brigitte Bardot, was born on the 28th of September, 1934, in Paris. She has, in different ways, and for two very different sets of beings, been a great libertarian all her life. I believe her own words prove that:
“I’m a girl from a good family who was very well brought up. One day I turned my back on it all and became a bohemian ……. I have been very happy, very rich, very beautiful, much adulated, very famous and very unhappy …….. (but), have you ever heard of a good marriage growing in front of the cameras?”
“I absolutely loathe luxury. It is the one thing I cannot stand.”
“It is sad to grow old but nice to ripen ………. I gave my beauty and my youth to men. I am going to give my wisdom and experience to animals ……… I left a world in which I was a queen to enter one in which I’m a human being.”
“I am a native Frenchwoman and proud of it ……. (but)I mourn the fact that my beautiful country has deteriorated in every way ……… French courts are backward and politically correct, which is the height of stupidity ……. Only idiots refuse to change their minds ……. In a democracy one must have the right to express oneself and that’s what I do, even if it displeases.”
“Do you have to have a reason for loving? …….. When I love, I do it without counting. I give myself entirely. And each time, it is the grand love of my life …….. My wild and free side unsettled some, and unwedged others ……. They may call me a sinner, but I am at peace with myself.”
Bardot understood the limits of freedom.
“Women get more unhappy the more they try to liberate themselves.”
But she found true love: “My favourite animals are dogs.”
Mans best friend.
And Brigitte Bardot’s.
God Bless Creation And All The Freedoms We Can Still Love.
Geoff Fox, 28th September, 2023, Hollywood Time, written Down Under
IMOTA #23 James A Garfield
America’s 20th President, Republican James A Garfield, was assassinated in Elberon, New Jersey, at the age of 49, on September 19, in 1881. This was only six and a half months after his inauguration.
I name him an Indigenous Man Of The Anglosphere (IMOTA) for his powerful use of English.
Here are a few examples:
“All free governments are managed by the combined wisdom and folly of the people.”
“The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.”
“Things don’t turn up in this world until somebody turns them up.”
“Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained.”
By popular education, I think Garfield meant the people, not remote, stupid governments.
This libertarianism is at the heart of America’s soul.
And it is what our world still needs.
Geoff Fox, 19th September, 2023, Down Under
Previous Indigenous Men Of The Anglosphere (IMOTA) are:
- John Wycliffe
- Douglas MacArthur
- George Pell
- R.S. Thomas
- Donald Trump
- John Barrymore
- William Shatner
- Thomas Jefferson
- Count Basie
- Clint Eastwood
- Walt Whitman
- Brigham Young
- John Wayne
- Sitting Bull
- Marlon Brando
- George Gershwin
- Will Rogers
- Ron Paul
- Alan Dershowitz
- A. J. P. Taylor
- J. C. Penney
- Hank Williams
My Melting Pot #8 9/11 In History – Beatrice Cenci – O Henry – PNG in WW1 – Allende – New York – B J Habibie – A Police Assault On Me
The date September the eleventh (9/11) has an interesting and varied history.
On that date, in 1599, Italian woman Beatrice Cenci died. For people in Rome she is a symbol of resistance to arrogant aristocracy. She was executed when 22 years old for murdering her father, whom she had unsuccessfully accused of repeatedly raping her.
On September 11, 1852.American short story writer O. Henry was born in Greensboro, North Carolina . He wrote that: “In the Big City a man will disappear with the suddenness and completeness of the flame of a candle that is blown out.”
In 1914, on the same date, Australia invaded German New Guinea and defeated German forces at the Battle of Bita Paka.
In 1973 in Chile General Augusto Pinochet’s military coup killed Salvador Allende and toppled his government on September 11.
In 2001, 2996 people died when terrorists hijacked 4 domestic aeroplanes, two of which attacked and destroyed both towers of the World Trade Centre in New York. Of the other two, one crashed in to the Pentagon and one crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
In 2019, on September 11, Indonesia’s outstanding democratic reformer and third president Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie died.
“Ainun. Saya sangat mencintaimu. Tetapi Allah lebih mencintaimu. Sehingga saya merelakan kamu pergi.” (When his wife had died, Habibie said to her, “Ainun, I truly love you. But God loves you more. So I submit to your departure.”)
On 9/11 2022, I was in spiritual communion with an aboriginal man on the steps of St Pauls Cathedral in Melbourne, when one unknown uniformed woman, who had threatened his human rights, objected to me reminding her that he had human rights and complained about me to police.
They removed me from invocation of God at the cathedral , physically assaulted me and one of them sexually assaulted (groped) me. In five weeks time they are putting me on trial.
Such is life when a Socialist Left government attacks religious observance.
This police hand went inside my underpants a year ago.
God still loves us all.
Praise The Lord.
Geoff Fox, 9/11, 2023, New York time
Men For Freedom #5 Marquis de Lafayette
Gilbert du Motier was A French aristocrat, born in France on September 6, 1757, who became a commander for George Washington in the Continental Army against the English in 1781’s Siege of Yorktown. He named one of his four children Georges Washington.
Here are some of his words:
“Laws must be clear, precise, and uniform for all citizens.”
“When the government violates the people’s rights, insurrection is …… the most sacred of the rights and the most indispensible of duties.”
“True republicanism is the sovereignty of the people. There are natural ……. rights which an entire nation has no right to violate.”
“Humanity has won its battle. Liberty now has a country.”
“My grand affair appears settled, for America is certain of her independence, humanity has gained her cause, and liberty will never be without a place of refuge.”
“The Huron and Iroquois forests are peopled by my friends; with me, the despots of Europe and their courts are the savages.”
God Bless Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette.
Geoff Fox, 6th September, 2023, Yorktown, New Jersey, time
Men For Freedom #4 Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse died on September 5th, 1877, at Fort Robinson, Nebraska.
In my eyes he was a small government libertarian and man of peace.
Charles Eastman, the first Native American to be certified in Western medicine, described Crazy Horse with these words: “……. one of the ablest and truest American Indians. His life was ideal; his record clean. He was never involved in any of the numerous massacres on the trail, but was a leader in practically every open fight. Such characters ……. are not easily found among so-called civilized people. The reputation of great men is apt to be shadowed by questionable motives and policies, but (he was) as worthy of honor as any who ever breathed God’s air in the wide spaces of a new world.”
The commitment of Crazy Horse to true freedom shines through in his words:
“We preferred hunting to a life of idleness on the reservations. At times we did not get enough to eat, and we were not allowed to leave the reservation to hunt.” and “We preferred our own way of living. We were no expense to the government. All we wanted was peace and to be left alone.”
“They tried to confine me. I tried to escape, and a soldier ran his bayonet into me. I have spoken.” – on his deathbed, 1877, after being bayoneted by a soldier in a guardhouse on the Sioux reservation.
“One does not sell the earth upon which the people walk.”
“I see a time of Seven Generations when all the colors of mankind will gather under the Sacred Tree of Life and the whole earth will become One Circle again.”
This reminds me of General Douglas MacArthur’s belief that “A Better World shall Emerge Based On Faith And Understanding.”
God Bless The Wisdom Of All Men For Freedom.
Geoff Fox, 5th September, 2023, Nebraska time
Phyllis Schlafly Month #1 The Anti Feminist
As a man who has found himself before the courts three times because something I did made an insecure woman uncomfortable including a politician whom I lobbied for memorial tree plantings, I have learnt that modern feminism is an evil misandrist force which threatens the survival of the social order in The West.
I congratulate activist attorney Phyllis Schlafly, who died 7 years ago on the 5th of September 2016, for being a great anti-feminist. She looks like a great and grossly under recognised libertarian to me.
As a man who was a registered midwife for a quarter of a century, I believe that one of Schlafly’s great human intellectual achievements is to clearly articulate how important motherhood is to so many women.
Feminist persecution of men will stop if voices like that of Phyllis Schlafly are respected. Here are some of her ideas:
“The feminist movement is not about success for women. It is about treating women as victims and about telling women that you can’t succeed because society is unfair to you, and I think that’s a very unfortunate idea to put in the minds of young women because I believe women can do whatever they want.”
“Feminists don’t honor successful women. You never hear them talking about Margaret Thatcher.”
“Men should stop treating feminists like ladies, and instead treat them like the men they say they want to be.”
“Feminism has changed the way women think, and it has changed the way men think, but the trouble is, it hasn’t changed the attitudes of babies at all.”
“When I had a baby, I didn’t leave the second floor for six months. I nursed my babies. I was a full-time homemaker. I taught them all how to read before I let them go to school. So I gave them that care in the early life that somehow feminists have been led to believe is demeaning and is not worth the time of an educated woman.”
“Feminism is doomed to failure because it is based on an attempt to repeal and restructure human nature.”
God Bless Phyllis Schlafly
Can we make her life and thought more widely known?
Geoff Fox, 5th September, 2023, Down under
IMOTA #19 Alan Dershowitz
Alan Dershowitz was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York,on September 1, 1938. (The image above is the Williamsburg Bridge.)
He is a committed Democrat who has defended Donald Trump.
For his integrity and intelligence, I name him an Indigenous Man Of The Anglosphere. (IMOTA)
Morality underpins his life. As he says: “I love the Bible.” and “For most people, the question why be good – as distinguished from merely law abiding – is a simple one. Because God commands it, because the Bible requires it, because good people go to Heaven and bad people go to Hell.”
He is proud of where he comes from and how it has shaped him: “I feel like my 50 years at Harvard were an interlude. I’m really a New Yorker.”
Defending people whom other lawyers will not defend is an important part of his life. This applies to the poor: “I charge my wealthy clients a lot and put 10 per cent in a fund which I use to pay the expenses of my poorer clients. When the government gangs up on the poor schnook in the street, someone has to stand up for him.”
And it also applies to the rich:
In an interview with Charlie Kirk in response to the question: “Can you talk about how this is bigger than Trump, about if you’re able to do this to political opponents and dissidents, it sets a bad precedent, it allows prosecutors to go above and beyond, and it actually makes us less free?”, Dershowitz responded: “This is the worst example in my 60 years of practicing criminal law, of targeting somebody for prosecution and then rummaging through the books, giving people immunity and trying to concoct a crime that doesn’t exist. And if this is allowed to succeed, none of our liberties is safe. You know, today it’s a Republican who’s a target, tomorrow it’s a Democrat. And the day after tomorrow, it’s your Uncle Charlie or your nephew or your niece. There’d be no limits on what prosecutors can do to their political enemies. They’re going to do it to people who are running against them for DA next. And it’s just such a violation, not only a violation of American law and civil liberties, it’s actually a violation of the Bible. The Bible instructs judges two things: don’t take bribes, that’s obvious. But the number one thing is don’t recognize faces. “
He has also said:
“We know that President Biden urged his attorney general to indict the man who he knew was going to be (his) leading opponent ……. That begins to look like banana republic land. That’s what happens when people in power are afraid of the democratic process. What they do is they seek the indictment and prosecution of the people who are running against them.”
“The worst mistake you can make is underrating your enemy. Assuming that they’re evil – I think it’s a terrible thing to do.”
The contemporary weaponisation of the justice system across the western world for political purposes would not happen so easily if the clear vision of Alan Dershowitz ruled in modern courts.
“The prosecution wants to make sure the process by which the evidence was obtained is not truthfully presented, because, as often as not, that process will raise questions.”
“Judges are the weakest link in our system of justice, and they are also the most protected.”
Dershowitz knows what really makes life good:
“I love discomfort. I mean, my whole life is discomfort. One reason I can never retire is that the idea of just sitting on the beach totally comfortable is not a desideratum in my life. I like ambiguity, I like conflict, I like uncertainly ……. The threat or fear of violence should not become an excuse or justification for restricting freedom of speech.”
Embracing freedom.
“Freedom of speech means freedom for those who you despise, and freedom to express the most despicable views. It also means that the government cannot pick and choose which expressions to authorize and which to prevent.”
God Bless Alan Dershowitz.
Geoff fox, 1st September, 2023, Down Under
Previous IMOTA are:
- John Wycliffe
- Douglas MacArthur
- George Pell
- R.S. Thomas
- Donald Trump
- John Barrymore
- William Shatner
- Thomas Jefferson
- Count Basie
- Clint Eastwood
- Walt Whitman
- Brigham Young
- John Wayne
- Sitting Bull
- Marlon Brando
- George Gershwin
- Will Rogers
- Ron Paul
IMOTA #18 Ron Paul
Ron Paul, who is, in my view, perhaps the single greatest living libertarian politician in the world, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on August 20, 1935. He came to my attention through his “what if” speech on YouTube. I consider it to be a truly great poem. I name him an Indigenous Man of The Anglosphere for his wonderful use of the English language.
I throw up for contrast with some of Paul’s thought a book title from Paleoconservative Pat Buchanan: “Churchill, Hitler and The Unnecessary War: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World.”
To what extent would his fellow libertarian, Ron Paul, agree?
Here is a taste of Paul’s thought:
“There is only one kind of freedom and that’s individual liberty. Our lives come from our creator and our liberty comes from our creator. It has nothing to do with government granting it.”
” ……. the best formula for giving us peace and preserving the American way of life is freedom, limited government, and minding our own business overseas.”
“When one gets in bed with government, one must expect the diseases it spreads.”
“Deficit spending should be viewed as a tax on future generations, and politicians who create deficits should be exposed as tax hikers.”
“The most important element of a free society, where individual rights are held in the highest esteem, is the rejection of the initiation of violence.”
“War is never economically beneficial except for those in position to profit from war expenditures.”
“……. a Golden Rule in foreign policy: Don’t do to other nations what we don’t want happening to us. We endlessly bomb these countries and then we wonder why they get upset with us?”
“You don’t have freedom because you are a hyphenated American; you have freedom because you are an individual, and that should be protected.”
“All initiation of force is a violation of someone else’s rights, whether initiated by an individual or the state, for the benefit of an individual or group of individuals, even if it’s supposed to be for the benefit of another individual or group of individuals.”
“Real patriotism is a willingness to challenge the government when it’s wrong.”
God Bless Ron Paul
Geoff Fox, Down Under, 20th August, 2023, Pittsburgh time
Previous IMOTA are:
- John Wycliffe
- Douglas MacArthur
- George Pell
- R.S. Thomas
- Donald Trump
- John Barrymore
- William Shatner
- Thomas Jefferson
- Count Basie
- Clint Eastwood
- Walt Whitman
- Brigham Young
- John Wayne
- Sitting Bull
- Marlon Brando
- George Gershwin
- Will Rogers
FREEDOM, DEMOKRASI AND CIVILISED HUMANITY 