Important Issues Quotes
Burrhus Frederic Skinner. Thanks to the work of Skinner and his followers, we now know that the psychological controls of a society, intended or otherwise, can be as big a factor affecting freedom as physical restraint. See {305304} for another of his quotations.
At the time Holland was a republic and a confederation of different states. There was an assembly of delegations from each of the States but most important decisions tended to be made by the Prince and a few of the representatives in his sway. See {620056} for a contemporary justification. This battle goes on in almost every country including the United States where there are many matters in which only a few members of Congress and the President make decisions with national security given as the reason. In many cases there has been such a reason, but it is very easily corrupted into a pretext as only the people on the inside who get to make the decision know what the secret material was.