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Rudolph Rummel Quotes

[During the 20th century] ... 170 million men, women, and children have been shot, beaten, tortured, knifed, burned, starved, frozen, crushed, or worked to death; buried alive, drowned, hung, bombed, or killed in any

[During the 20th century] ... 170 million men, women, and children have been shot, beaten, tortured, knifed, burned, starved, frozen, crushed, or worked to death; buried alive, drowned, hung, bombed, or killed in any other of the myriad ways governments have inflicted death on unarmed, helpless citizens and foreigners.

Rudolph Rummel
Children, Men, Liberty

The more power a government has the more it can act arbitrarily according to the whims and desires of the elite, and the more it will make war on others and murder its foreign and domestic subjects. The more constrained the power of governments, the more power is diffused, checked, and balanced, the less it will aggress on others and commit democide.

Rudolph Rummel
War, Government, Desire
"Death by Government". Book by Rudolph Rummel, pp. 1-2, 1994.

Power kills, absolute power kills absolutely.

Rudolph Rummel
Absolute Power, Absolutes
"Death by Government". Book by Rudolph Rummel, 1944.

Concentrated political power is the most dangerous thing on earth.

Rudolph Rummel
Political, Liberty, Earth
"Rudolph Rummel Talks About the Miracle of Liberty and Peace". The Freeman Interview, fee.org. July 1, 1997.

Political scientists almost everywhere have promoted the expansion of government power. They have functioned as the clergy of oppression.

Rudolph Rummel
Government, Political, Having Fun
"Rudolph Rummel Talks About the Miracle of Liberty and Peace". The Freeman Interview, fee.org. July 1, 1997.

Our knowledge and our ability to handle our problems progress through the open conflict of ideas, through the tests of phenomenological adequacy, inner consistency, and practical-moral consequences. Reason may err, but it can be moral. If we must err, let it be on the side of our creativity, our freedom, our betterment.

Rudolph Rummel
Creativity, Ideas, Consistency

We have a solution for war. It is to expand the sphere of liberty.

Rudolph Rummel
War, Liberty, Spheres
"Rudolph Rummel Talks About the Miracle of Liberty and Peace". The Freeman Interview, fee.org. July 1, 1997.

Nobody can be trusted with unlimited power. The more power a regime has, the more likely people will be killed. This is a major reason for promoting freedom.

Rudolph Rummel
Trust, People, Liberty
"Rudolph Rummel Talks About the Miracle of Liberty and Peace". The Freeman Interview, fee.org. July 1, 1997.

The way to virtually eliminate genocide and mass murder appears to be through restricting and checking power. This means to foster democratic freedom.

Rudolph Rummel
Freedom, Mean, Democracy
"Death by Government". Book by Rudolph Rummel, p. 27, 1994.

To gauge the understanding and insight that metaphysics provides is to ask whether, in the final analysis, it helps us to cope with our world and harmonize our existence with nature, humanity, and ourselves, and leads to greater freedom and self-realization. Metaphysics is only the beginning. The end is human progress.

Rudolph Rummel
Our World, Self, Understanding

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