"The conservative movement is successful despite the "crackpots and nuts" on the religious right. I know them all. I've said Jerry Falwell should be kicked in the ass, and I meant it. He has a big one. You can't miss it." -- Barry Goldwater

"It is always to be taken for granted, that those who oppose an equality of rights never mean the exclusion should take place on themselves." -- Thomas Paine (On First Principles of Government, 1795)

"One should respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny." -- Bertrand Russell (The Conquest of Happiness, 1930)

"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." -- Thomas Jefferson

And this, people, is why I'm not content in sitting idly while my country goes deeper towards authoritarianism and fundamentalism.

"It does not take many words to tell the truth." -- Chief Joseph

Francis Bellamy, the author of the Pledge of Allegiance, was a Christian Socialist who believed that Jesus was a Socialist.

"Ultimately all the questions in this case really boil down to one--whether we as a people will try fearfully and futilely to preserve democracy by adopting totalitarian methods, or whether in accordance with our traditions and our Constitution we will have the confidence and courage to be free." -- Justice Black in the dissenting opinion of Barenblatt v. United States (1959)

"When you say 'radical right' today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like Pat Robertson and others who are trying to take the Republican Party away from the Republican Party, and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye." -- Barry Goldwater in The Washington Post (July 28, 1994)

"I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or prostitute." -- Rebecca West

"I abhor war and view it as the great scourage of mankind." Oh no! Jefferson was weak on defense! (That was sarcasm for the sarcasm impared.)