Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

How the unrighteous whittle away at freedom
American Thinker ^ | 23 Jan, 2022 | Spruce Fontaine

Posted on 01/23/2022 4:56:01 AM PST by MtnClimber

There is a great whittling going on. It is a pastime as old as mankind. It is not the sort practiced by retired codgers sitting on front porches with pocket knives carving wooden artifacts for their grandchildren. The great whittling is the relentless shaving away of mankind's free agency.

As I watch the TV series 1883 unfold, I am impressed how deep our need for freedom truly is and how the world seems to go out of its way to ankle our best efforts to live our lives on our own terms. Actor Sam Elliot, as the world-worn wagon master, seemed perplexed as the German pioneer, with wretched humility, described that where they came from, there were laws against swimming, of all things. It is true that in Germany, people were whipped, put in the stocks, and fined for swimming, as was also the case in parts of England.

People in medieval Europe and into the Enlightenment generally did not swim. They did not know how. Swimming was not a leisure art or a bathing practice. Overall, getting in water over one's head was considered too dangerous.

It is roughly estimated that 2,000 to 3,000 drowned annually in Britain. It is always a general tendency for those in authority to want to protect people from themselves. How else to explain the age-old refrain of "there ought to be law against that"?

To revisit 1883, Faith Hill playing a pioneer mother rehearses life lessons on the subject of freedom as she and her daughter swim and bathe (freely) in the river. One is that freedom isn't free. It comes with "fangs." Two, as the world packs more and more people together, inevitably, more rules and more laws will follow. Ponder how COVID-19 mandates stand uniquely illustrative of those two principles.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: communism

1 posted on 01/23/2022 4:56:01 AM PST by MtnClimber
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

The left hates freedom and I can’t explain it except that it seems to be an affinity for evil.


2 posted on 01/23/2022 4:56:20 AM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber
The left hates freedom and I can’t explain it except that it seems to be an affinity for evil.

I can explain it easily. Leftists hate freedom because freedom comes with responsibility and accountability attached. They fear responsibility, and would rather be taken care of by government, and they hate accountability because they don’t want anyone ever telling them they’re wrong. You can explain every aspect of how leftists act by realizing that they think like immature children.

3 posted on 01/23/2022 5:12:40 AM PST by noiseman (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: noiseman

Correct. Petulant children.


4 posted on 01/23/2022 5:21:40 AM PST by ComputerGuy (Heavily-medicated for your protection)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Ask a US leftist what exactly they think was wrong with slavery.

Slaves were benevolently given free room and board - given all the material to make clothes or what not, by the plantation owners. They had no expenses. Everything was “free” for them.

They just didn’t have freeDOM.

When they respond with shrills concerning mistreatment, ask what makes them think people without freedom won’t be mistreated by a “benevolent” government.

Also note, being sold or treated differently by race falls under the mistreatment category.


5 posted on 01/23/2022 5:28:36 AM PST by fruser1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

They think because they are such big time losers that it can’t be their fault.
It must be the world’s fault.
Therefore the world owes them a comfortable living.
Not though hard work or perseverance..but other people’s money (OPM).
To them..the guy getting up at 5am and working 10-12 hours a day is a sucker.
Possibly why one of the protected groups in exAmerica hates Asians? Hard working and family oriented.


6 posted on 01/23/2022 5:30:38 AM PST by Leep (Freedom: "What's the big deal" -joe biden)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

The left doesn’t hate freedom. They actually are fully in love with it. It’s just that they define freedom differently than us. Specifically, their definition of “freedom” is closer to up and out anarchy. Think the stereotypical view of the Wild West, or the Chicago Days of Rage, or that stuff.


7 posted on 01/23/2022 10:14:21 AM PST by otness_e
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

American Thinker really has been living up to its name these days. 🤔


8 posted on 01/23/2022 11:16:56 AM PST by proust (All posts made under this handle are, for the intents and purposes of the author, considered satire.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: fruser1

‘Ask a US leftist what exactly they think was wrong with slavery.’

well, for starters, men, women, and children of the same family were routinely sold separately, often so far away as to never see each other again...

kind of hard to put lipstick on that pig...


9 posted on 01/23/2022 12:30:16 PM PST by IrishBrigade
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: IrishBrigade
And how did they get away with that? No freedom. No freedom means your overlords have absolute power over you.

And what makes you think socialists don't do things like that?

https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/01/14/the-german-government-forcibly-removed-these-children-from-their-parents-over-homeschooling/

10 posted on 01/24/2022 4:06:27 AM PST by fruser1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson