I am optimistic. I have to be optimistic. Nat Hentoff More Quotes by Nat Hentoff More Quotes From Nat Hentoff I was lecturing at the Columbia Journalism School of Education. I asked them about what was happening to the Fourth Amendment. I said, "By the way, do you know what is in the Fourth Amendment?" One student responded, "Is that the right to bear arms?" It's hard to believe these are bright students. Nat Hentoff armsbelieveschool [John] McCarthy's regime was ended by Senators who realized that he had gone too far. What we have now may be more insidious. Nat Hentoff regimesgonemay We have no idea how much the government knows and how much the CIA even knows about average citizens. The government is not supposed to be doing this in this country. They listen in on our phone calls. I am not exaggerating because I have studied this a long time. Nat Hentoff phonesgovernmentcountry You have to be careful about what you do, about what you say, and that is more dangerous than what was happening with [John] McCarthy, but the technology the government now possesses is so much more insidious. Nat Hentoff insidioustechnologygovernment The media has been very bad about informing us about what is going on. They focus on surface things. They do not focus enough on the fact that the Fourth Amendment is on life support and that we need a return to transparency in government. Nat Hentoff supportmediagovernment [Margot Hentoff] stopped [writing]. She decided that she had nothing more to say. And yet, every day, she has a whole lot to say, and I wish she'd write it down. Nat Hentoff wholewishwriting I think one thing we share [with my wife] is a complete bottomless disdain for Bill Clinton. Nat Hentoff billswifethinking My - mine is based on the fact that Bill Clinton has done - and I'm - this sounds like hyperbole, but he has done more harm to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights than any president since John Adams. Nat Hentoff presidentrightssound [Bill Clinton] has called for expanded wiretaps for the FBI. Nat Hentoff fbibillsclinton [Bill Clinton] was the man, as a matter of fact, who, in terms of the Communications Decency Act, which would have made the Internet, the whole concept of cyberspace, vulnerable to rampant censorship - he pushed that bill, and I know the man in the Justice Department whom he persuaded - the guy didn't want to lose his job - to write the bill. Nat Hentoff communicationwritingjobs A.J. [Muste] was a - as he likes to say, a radical pacifist. Nat Hentoff pacifistradicallikes [A.J. Muste] never engaged in violence but he believed, as [Mahatma] Gandhi did - and he knew Gandhi slightly - he believed that a pacifist had to be active in the community. Nat Hentoff pacifistcommunityviolence In that respect, Martin Luther King, whom A.J.[Muste] advised in the civil rights movement, was also a radical pacifist. Nat Hentoff movementkingsrights He - A.J.[Muste] never got much credit, never got much attention. For example, I wrote a biography of him and nobody ever heard of it. Nat Hentoff creditexampleattention [A.J. Muste] was very influenced - in - influential in the peace movement, in the civil rights movement. Nat Hentoff influentialmovementrights Trotsky found out about him - Leon Trotsky - because A.J.[Muste] worked. He was an activist. And he organized the first sit-in strike in Toledo in a factory. And Trotsky was very impressed with that. Nat Hentoff toledofactoriesfirsts A.J.[Muste] died in the late '60s, I think. He was 81, something like that. Nat Hentoff diedlatethinking I knew A.J. Muste very well. I tried for a while to be like he was, and that is a total pacifist. But then Margot [my wife] hit me hard in the stomach one day to prove to me that I wasn't as perfect a pacifist as I thought I was. Nat Hentoff one-daywifeperfect The Voice has been politically correct in many of its aspects since before that term was ever used. Nat Hentoff aspectusedvoice I found out - the paper used to go to bed on Tues - on Monday. I found out that on Monday nights, the editors would cut out - literally cut out passages, sometimes whole paragraphs, of some of the writers that might possibly offend blacks, lesbians, gays, radicals. And I wrote a couple of columns about that. And they're - of course, they were annoyed that I had written about it, but, I mean, it - another example - and [my wife Margot] always also conjured that. Nat Hentoff couplemondaymean
![I think one thing we share [with my wife] is a complete bottomles... by Nat Hentoff](https://whatsmyquote.com/images/quote-medium-quote-7ad047a0cad1f30c2093ebee5cc6e550.jpg)
![[Bill Clinton] has called for expanded wiretaps for the FBI. by Nat Hentoff](https://whatsmyquote.com/images/quote-medium-quote-99f947750005562990caa0a5c5d12286.jpg)
![A.J. [Muste] was a - as he likes to say, a radical pacifist. by Nat Hentoff](https://whatsmyquote.com/images/quote-medium-quote-105223c1d84f3999c4ef2cd8985c16c2.jpg)
![A.J.[Muste] died in the late '60s, I think. He was 81, something... by Nat Hentoff](https://whatsmyquote.com/images/quote-medium-quote-19075bcb85886927aa9446e8a3001017.jpg)
