MOST AMERICANS SHOULD BE ASHAMED TO CELEBRATE THE FOURTH

The Libertarian ^ | 4 Jul '03 | Vin Suprynowicz

[missileboy]

Wonder if this even resonates with "conservatives" anymore. Wonder if this will get pulled for not being patriotic enough.....

[grundle]

Hello to Ein, jamesinca, and liberalhistorian!

I am a Libertarian!

[gitmo]

Lots of us dream about Ann Coulter.

[gitmo]

Oh my gosh. I've never done this before. I had multiple windows open, and posted to the wrong thread. Enjoy the picture. It was supposed to go on this thread about dreaming about Ann Coulter.

[glocksman]

Interesting take, and pretty much the stuff I've thought for years. The explanation is that the chains have been forged one by one over many years through many well-intentioned pieces of legislation.

If all of today's current restrictions on liberty had been imposed all at once, the American people would have risen in revolution and hanged the perpetrators from the nearest lamppost.

But, like boiling a frog by turning up the heat a little at a time, we accept the restrictions because individually they seem so small or they don't directly affect us.

Taken as a whole, however, we get what we have today.

[HairOfTheDog]

Go for it if complaining gives you some satisfaction. I don't feel ashamed. God bless the nation where even the spoiled children feel justified in complaining about something. We have it better than any other country in the world.

This country contains my dreams, my family, my friends, and a whole lot of people to admire. Together we can acheive anything we want or nothing at all. It is freedom and opportunity in action. Many of the people who died to create and defend this country never had it as good as I do. I never forget that.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

What a dork.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

S'okay, and a lot more entertaining than the original post (even if she really does need to order off the dessert cart a little more often).

[missileboy]

"Many of the people who died to create and defend this country never had it as good as I do. I never forget that."

I believe you have confused liberty with wealth. And the patriot (and apparently brewer, or is that just a lie perpetrated by the beer company?) Sam Adams distinguished between the two:

"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chain be set lightly upon you and may posterity forget ye were our countrymen."

You may have it better, but they would not have tolerated what you crouch down to.

I don't complain for satisfaction. I state what I believe to be true. In any case, our standard of living relative to any other country in the world has nothing to do with the state of liberty in the US.

[missileboy]

All of which is accomplished insidiously through a process known as the Hegelian Dialectic.....

Love your screen name! I am a Glockaholic myself.

[HairOfTheDog]

I don't have anything confused.... I know that I am dang lucky and blessed to live here.... Could things be better? - Yes, almost anything done by man could be done better. So I follow people with good ideas.... but never people who tell me how miserable I should be.... I'm funny that way.

"MOST AMERICANS SHOULD BE ASHAMED TO CELEBRATE THE FOURTH" *Sucks* as an inspiration.

[habs4ever]

You guys are as cranky as the far left, using July 4th to moan about your 'ideal"....suck it up and be grateful for what do have, not for what you wish you had.

You libertarian/true conservatives(whatever) malcontents are the dregs....

[glocksman]

What better time to discuss the erosion of liberties in the US than on Independence Day?

As far as your 'suck it up and be grateful for what do have, not for what you wish you had.' comment goes, be grateful indeed that the founding fathers didn't listen to the loyalists in the Colonies who said the same thing back in 1775.

[missileboy]

That's because it's not meant to inspire. It's meant to wake people up to a reality they'd rather not acknowledge. The truth is not popular.

I didn't realize that inspiration was what we were shooting for. By all means, let's suppress the truth so we can all feel good.

[missileboy]

Sorry, should have copied you on that reply, too. See post 14.

[HairOfTheDog]

BOOO HOOO HOOO

[glocksman]

You're missing the point.

The author of the article isn't saying that we should be ashamed of the 4th as a holiday. He's saying that most Americans aren't even aware of the loss of liberties that has taken place in the name of 'necessity', and that's why they should be ashamed.

Put another way, they're going through the motions of celebrating, while having lost sight of what the holiday is supposed to honor.


As far as needing laws such as the USA PATRIOT act go, I offer the following quote from William Pitt;

"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves"

Indeed.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

By all means, let's suppress the truth so we can all feel good.

LOL:), Indeed. Common practice among some.

Becky

[missileboy]

Come on, glocksman. That divisive, positional attitude will not win you friends at the facilitated support group meeting. Wouldn't you FEEL better if you just lit off a few colorful explosives (pursuant, of course, to an ATFE regulations), waved a few flags and made some speeches to the sheeple about our "freedom"?

[missileboy]

Excellent post. That is truly food for thought. If only I had a time machine to relay those same sentiments to those malcontents who pitched that tea into the harbor......