How many of you agree with these statements?

Question

Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.
Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Answer 1

I agree.

If someone has to be fanatic about something -- fanaticism about personal freedom and personal choice is perhaps the least dangerous of all.

And without justice -- true justice in the sense of the best possible good for the most people -- what's the point?

Answer 2

Absolutely!

"To begin with, "extremism" is a term which, standing by itself, has no meaning. The concept of "extreme" denotes a relation, a measurement, a degree. The dictionary gives the following definitions: "Extreme, adj.—1., of a character or kind farthest removed from the ordinary or average. 2. utmost or exceedingly great in degree."

"It is obvious that the first question one has to ask, before using that term, is: a degree—of what? To answer: "Of anything!" and to proclaim that any extreme is evil because it is an extreme—to hold the degree of a characteristic, regardless of its nature, as evil—is an absurdity (any garbled Aristotelianism to the contrary notwithstanding). Measurements, as such, have no value-significance—and acquire it only from the nature of that which is being measured.

"Are an extreme of health and an extreme of disease equally undesirable? Are extreme intelligence and extreme stupidity—both equally far removed "from the ordinary or average"—equally unworthy? Are extreme honesty and extreme dishonesty equally immoral? Are a man of extreme virtue and a man of extreme depravity equally evil?

"The examples of such absurdities can be multiplied indefinitely—particularly in the field of morality where only an extreme (i.e., unbreached, uncompromised) degree of virtue can be properly called a virtue. (What is the moral status of a man of "moderate" integrity?)" [Ayn Rand]

Answer 3

I agree. When someone analyzes something correctly,he/she should stand up for his/her belief. The war in Iraq is an excellent example of a situation where "extremists" in both parties were right and "moderates" in both parties were wrong

Answer 4

Agreed.

Answer 5

Barry Goldwater was right when he said that

Answer 6

All I will say is that there are exceptions to every rule.

Answer 7

What?

Answer 8

I do.