RNS Quote of the Day: 10/09/06

Vaclav Havel, the President of the Czech Republic and a playwright, is also a noted observer of the modern world order.

He has observed that in a Communist society people were not allowed to act without explicit authorization. In a free society, by contrast, the presumption is the opposite: We are free to do what we want unless it is prohibited.

The idea that highly detailed rules will tell us exactly what to do changes the presumption back again: We can’t do what we want because the law details our course.

The Death of Common Sense – Philip K. Howard