The Wisdom of Voltaire & The Foolishness of Lying Lester

François-Marie Arouet (11/21/1694 – 5/30/1778), known by his nom de plume Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state. (Source: Wikipedia)

Below I have transcribed (or cut and pasted, in computer parlance) some Voltaire quotes I feel are worthy of reflecting upon, followed by my interpretation/take on said quote...

Voltaire: I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.

Lying Lester: Sure I'll defend your right to say it... otherwise how can I make fun of you for saying it? In all honesty, this is one of my favorite quotes to pay lip service to, as it makes me appear reasonable to my lIberal "fRiends". And, if I can't trick you into being my fRiend, I'll ban you from my blog.

Voltaire: It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.

Lying Lester: This is an example of something I might say after I've just defended your right to say something with which I disagree. Like I said, I can't make fun of you for saying something foolish unless you say it.

Voltaire: Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.

Lying Lester: Well said. Although I'd add "Libertarian" to the end of that sentence. "Man is free at the moment he wishes to be Libertarian". And even more free if he wishes to be (and then becomes) a Libertarian Objectivist who reads and follows the teachings of Ayn Rand and votes for Gary Johnson in 2016.

Voltaire: What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly - that is the first law of nature.

Lying Lester: Lying Lester isn't sure how much "wisdom" is contained in this quote. I shall assume Voltaire meant that those of a like mind should excuse the errors of their brethren. I mean, if you agree with me surely I'm going to cut you some slack if you say something stupid. If, however, you disagree with me and say something stupid - I'm going to jump on it and take the chance to ridicule you to no end.

Voltaire: In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.

Lying Lester: Obviously Voltaire points out this fact because he strongly believes government should not do this. And Lying Lester obviously agrees. The wealthy and powerful should take from the poor and middle class laborers (by exploiting them) and government should stay out of the equation... as opposed to tAxing the rich to make up for the "evils" they inflict upon the poor.

Voltaire: It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.

Lying Lester: Lying Lester knows this all too well, being one of those who is right when the established authorities are wrong. This is why so few people vote Libertarian - eStablishment politicians discourage it because it threatens their power.

Voltaire: Of all religions, the Christian should of course inspire the most tolerance, but until now Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.

Lying Lester: Being an atheist, Lying Lester agrees completely. And, being an atheist, Lying Lester looks down his nose and ridicules believers. Have some tolerance for my intolerance, for cHrist!

Voltaire: Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy the mad daughter of a wise mother. These daughters have too long dominated the earth.

Lying Lester: Again, agreed. rEligion is stupid and those who believe are idiots.

Voltaire: Prejudices are what fools use for reason.

Lying Lester: Lying Lester is prejudiced against no one, except fools and idiots. An exception I am positive Voltaire would agree with.

Voltaire: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

Lying Lester: This one is my personal favorite because me saying so points to what a huge hypocrite I am. Why? Because I make an exception for the absurdities the former president Bush made many of us believe regarding WMD Iraq did not have. The atrocity that was the Iraq war should be forgotten, swept under the rug and spoken of never again. Why? Because Bush is no longer president - or some other lame excuse (come up with your own if you don't like mine).

Byline: This foolishness resulted when Lord Lying Lester: Man of Reason (AKA Lester Nation) sat down and decided to write something witty. Assuredly this is proof that I am a purveyor of extreme foolishness. LLIN-057.