On Authority and Morality

Read this article by Glenn Greenwald titled Authoritarian Temptation. What stands out (frighteningly so) is a reference to this quote from Rudy Giuliani

What we don’t see is that freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.

Obviously, Giuliani isn't the first person to subscribe to this kind of ghastly philosophy. One of the core assumptions made when someone maintains such an authoritarian philosophy is that human beings are fundamentally bad and that left to their own devices will commit all kinds of evil acts. This is a fundamental fallacy and takes a rather bleak view of human nature. I think that human beings are fundamentally good, and imposing authority and strict moral standards is extremely counterproductive. Authority is rarely justified except in basic cases of parental authority such as telling a child not to run in front of an oncoming vehicle and so on, but even parental authority must be earned, not imposed.

Instead of letting humans retain their intrinsic good nature, Authority creates Fear and Resistance where there was none before and Morality creates Vice and Sin where there was none before. Authority and Morality are the bane of human existence.

Finally, some parting quotes on Authority and Morality

Whenever there is authority, there is a natural inclination to disobedience.
--Thomas C.Haliburton,1796-1865, Canadian Jurist, Author

The more laws and order are made prominent,
The more thieves and robbers there will be.
--Lao Tzu

"When you make your peace with authority, you become authority."
--Jim Morrison

Morality is always the product of terror; its chains and strait-waistcoats are fashioned by those who dare not trust others, because they dare not trust themselves, to walk in liberty.

--Aldous Huxley

The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others.
--Bertrand Russell

In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart
--Anne Frank (one of the most renowned and discussed of Holocaust victims)