Time for the inaugural round of the exciting new game Name the Source of that Quotation! After each of the following quotations, you should try your best to guess its source. The game will get easier as you progress through the quotations, so be sure to scroll down and read slowly if you’re up for a real challenge. It’ll be fun, I promise. What’s more, it’s especially timely, in light of today’s election day shenanigans and an oral argument that took place earlier today. Alas, I have already said too much, so let’s begin:
- “It is the Trojan horse destroying our country and a republic cannot survive as a lawless nation.”
- “It’s a public-private partnership. We believe both sides, businesses and lawmakers should be at the same table, together.”
- “I can only believe the opportunities at the federal level are going to continue apace as a result of what’s happening.”
- “They talk [about] how positive this was going to be for the community […] the amount of money that we would realize from each prisoner on a daily rate.”
- “Those people coming across the border and getting caught are going to have to be detained and that for me, at least I think, there’s going to be enhanced opportunities for what we do.”
If you’ve not figured it out already, these quotations are in fact excerpts from Laura Sullivan’s (NPR) recent piece on the apparently not-so-insignificant influence of the powerful private corrections lobby on the passage of SB 1070. And though this revelation might not be surprising, it should nonetheless be deeply troubling, as should the sheer smugness that suffuse this discourse about trading freedom for profit. I’ll let Sullivan do the rest of the talking. Listen or read here.
