C.S. Lewis on Tyranny

More C.S. Lewis. The Acton Institute quotes him:

Here’s justly famous quote from C. S. Lewis on why the danger posed by a nanny government can be much more oppressive than that posed by the consolidation of economic power:

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

They also provide a link to the excellent essay from which the quotation was taken: "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment," an essay I regularly used in my high school political science classes when we were discussing the legal system and theories of punishment for criminals.

Lewis on Moral Tyranny - Acton Institute PowerBlog