[MikefromOhio]

I am with the daughter...I dont know what the retirement age will be for my generation...it has already been raised 5 times or some such nonsense like that.....

otherwise, shes completely uninformed. I am not counting on there being a Social security when I am in my 30s, much less my 70s, so I am doing my own retirement investments instead of waiting on the government...

[goldstategop]

The problem is even a lot of conservatives expect the government to take care of them. Its hard to stop being a public entitlement junkie.

[freekitty]

I think he did a fine job. He believes what he said.

Does anyone want an alledged eloquent speaker like Bill Clinton who really gets up in front of the world and completely lies and feeds us these lies and finally bores us to death because he won't shut up?

Not me.

[ovrtaxt]

Now we have people saying that it's peace, not freedom that matters. That might sound good until you realize that by "peace" they simply mean the absence of armed conflict. Tyranny? Fine. Not even the most basic of freedoms? No problem ... as long as there's peace. Today an astounding number of people, principally on the left, believe that peace without freedom is just fine, thank you very much.

Neal crystallizes it right there. Thanks for posting this!

[nuconvert]

I heard one "on scene" reporter yesterday, say that a democrat walked by her and quipped, "How many times did he say the 'freedom' in that speech"?
Yes, it's a nasty word and apparently left a bad taste in that dem's mouth.

[sergeantdave]

Freedom = Leave me alone.

A good start would be upholding that constitutional thing that says only congress may write law. Next fire 90% of the bureaucrats. And then impeach a few thousand judges.

[stopem]

Many of us want freedom from illegals flooding our country.
Freedom from illegals would make THIS country safer.

The so-called "jobs Americans dont want" could be given to the homeless. I went to a beauty shop in a good part of town, several hours later as I was leaving there on a bench was a homeless person. They are invading our lives and is a problem that has never been dealt with, but yet the illegals live in nice homes, drive new pickups, something very wrong with this picture!!

The homeless label has been assigned to the mentally ill and yes obviously there many that are, but there are some that are without jobs and would gladly take some of the jobs that are given to the illegals.

[Dallas59]

Let the Euroweenies suffer.

[Soul Seeker]

They defend the oppressors, and demonize the Liberators.

It is reflective of how their souls have been warped, their minds shaped by propaganda.

Sadly, for some, it is also reflective of the unwillingness to accept the responsibilities of freedom because it isn't often convenient. Those that do embrace it face contant struggle, that in the end liberates their spirits in a way those that accept limitations will never experience.

[an italian]

THERE IS ONLY ONE FORCE OF HISTORY THAT CAN BREACK THE REIGN OF HATRED AND RESENTMENT, AND EXPOSE THE PRETENSIONS OF TY RANTS, AND REWARD THE HOPES OF THE DECENT AND TOLERANT, AND THAT IS THE FORCE OF HUMAN FREEDOM.

ditto, mr president!!!!

[Ladysmith]

I've been watching Inauguration and State of the Union speeches for years. I've read almost every State of the Union speech ever delivered. Over the decades there were some obvious changes. Take the word "democracy," for instance. You never saw that word in a State of the Union speech until sometime around the 1930's. The idea of "democracy" suddenly became popular when politicians sought to expand the power of the state beyond anything imagined by our Constitution. To do this they needed to cite the "will of the people." Majority rule moved the rule of law aside, and our modern "democracy" was born. Along with the arrival of the "D" word came disappearing references to freedom and more emphasis on security ... government provided security. George Bush's speech yesterday was a market difference from this trend. Too bad it fell on so many deaf and unwilling ears.

This bears repeating. Thursday, I was arguing with a younger student about what our country is, a republic or a democracy. And the instructor even hesitated. "We're a republic but vote democratically."

...arg!..

[sauropod]

Good article.