William O. Douglas – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_O._Douglas

These days I see America identifed more and more with material things, less and less with spiritual standards. These days I see America acting abroad as an arrogant, selfish, greedy nation interested only in guns and dollars, not in people and their hopes and aspirations. We need a faith that dedicates us to something bigger and more important than ourselves or our possessions. Only if we have that faith will we be able to guide the destiny of nations in this the most critical period of world history.

A Supreme Court justice who campaigns for environmentalism and the right to privacy, and who warns us that there’s more to being a superpower than money and guns. Sadly, there’s no such strong voice on today’s stodgy anachronism of a court – this 1952 quote is from William O. Douglas; an “activist judge” who shows why that term should not be used as a pejorative. We could use more like him today.

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