Saturday, October 29, 2016

Quote of the Day

In light of the blatantly bogus checkpoint set up by Wellington police which became public knowledge this week, the following quote seemed apt:


The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.

– John Stuart Mill, On Liberty [1869]
Hat-tip FFF

3 comments:

JC said...

My first thought about the checkpoints was that crime in NZ had magically tumbled overnight to record lows if the police could afford to go chasing old ladies.

My second was I'd have to wait for the other shoe to drop.. and it possibly has with the arrest of a person for purchasing euthanasia drugs as a result of an investigation.

But the police would have to show there was a real risk of illegal killer drugs being sold to dotty old folk to justify the checkpoints.

JC

Mark Wahlberg said...

I suggest the police have egg on their face with the checkpoint fiasco.

But in my opinion their arrest and prosecution of the elderly schoolteacher for importing the illegal drug Nembutal is correct. If this case involved a much younger person with suspicious motives I suspect we might have a different view. Unfortunately "Not only must justice be done, it must be seen to be done".

I'm sure we would all be outraged if the police became judge and jury and were the final word regarding who got justice.

If the law is wrong, the only way to overturn it, is to challenge it and produce compelling evidence why the law needs to be changed. This is why Its important this schoolteacher and the euthanasia argument have their day in court.

Enter the politicians, who I suspect would welcome some form of change, but have their majorities to consider.

Anonymous said...

This checkpoint nonsense is a relatively new invention. I recall criminal matters being tossed out, within the last 25 years I guess, because the police found stolen stuff in a car after pulling over someone who they knew to be trouble but had, on that occasion, done nothing to warrant a stop. Western governments rallied against this stuff and ID cards back then because it was what the evil communists did and they were the bad guys.

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