I thought for a minute he mentioned 'France.'
Posted on 01/21/2005 6:56:03 AM PST by Phantom Lord
FREEDOM? NO THANKS
If you can believe this, President Bush's Inaugural speech is catching flack from some quarters, particularly American leftists and Euro-weenies, because he used the "F" word 27 times. This is an "F" word that is even more offensive to the left than the "F" word. Yup ... Bush said "Freedom" at least 27 times during the speech.
Evidently Bush didn't get the booklet of instructions for Presidents making State of the Union or Inaugural speeches. You're supposed to talk about security, not freedom. Bush was talking about spreading freedom around the world, and much of the world was having none of it.
What is the problem with freedom? I think that the biggest problem is that people realize that along with personal freedom comes personal responsibility. To be sure, Americans will say nice things about freedom ... right up until the time that personal responsibility rears its ugly head. Freedom of speech? Sure, that takes no real effort. Freedom of religion? No problem there. It doesn't really require you to actually do anything. Introduce responsibility and consequences for irresponsibility, and the love of freedom suddenly wanes.
I saw a good example of the limited American love affair with freedom yesterday on CNN. Three women from three generations were being interviewed; grandmother, mother and daughter. They were being questioned on President Bush's privatization plans for Social Security. The grandmother was against it. She said that this would be like the government teaching people to gamble. She equates investing in the stock market to gambling, and has decided that it is wrong. Let the government take your money, and then dole it out to you later. Not that's just fine.
The daughter was particularly troubling. On the one hand she said that she had no confidence at all that there were going to be any Social Security benefits for her when she reached retirement age, whatever that retirement age might be. On the other hand she said that she wasn't in favor of privatization because she didn't want to have to go to the trouble of making decisions on how her retirement money should be invested. She would just rather have the government do it for her.
More examples? They're not difficult to fine. Just go to the basic levels of our society. Should you be free to negotiate with an employer on the basis of salary? No ... we need a minimum wage. Should you be free to buy a health insurance policy that doesn't include pregnancy benefits? No .. the government stands in the way. Should you be free to chose who is going to come into your home and tell you what drapery fabric would look good with your throw pillows? No. The government tells you who you can and can't hire for that job. Do people complain? Do they protest? Not a bit. Just accept the government controls and regulations and move on.
There is another troubling aspect of our lost love for freedom. When freedom isn't cherished people are opposed to paying a price to make freedom secure. The United States is trying to introduce freedom into the heart of the tyrannical Arab World. As in the past, people are dying in the effort. 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.
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.
I thought for a minute he mentioned 'France.'
Good article.
To the point...bullseye..
It was a good point.
That's the whole thing in a nutshell! People would rather flee than fight and Bill Clinton's administration was the epitome of that kind of thinking and look where it has taken the nation if not the world.
Appeasing the spoiled child or appeasing the terrorist gets you the same results – tyranny.
Very thought provoking. I agree with this article. I think most Americans don't understand what freedom is, and don't cherish it. I know lots of folks that equate the lack of armed conflict with freedom, (odd but true).
The scary part is, many of these people who don't understand freedom won't figure out what it is, until it's completely gone.
And a significant number of them still won't care. Some people just don't want the responsiblity that comes with freedom.
Great point.
That obnoxious female reporter on CBS yesterday (blond) mentioned that someone from Congress passed her and made a snide remark like, "How many more times do you think he could fit Freedom into speech?" And she said, "That's just ONE comment I heard like that..."
I was ready to reach through the television and smack that woman.
The ghastly people from ANSWER also used the word yesterday numerous times while screeching their far left views re Bush on CSPAN 2 for hours (why were these idiots given so much time, one must ask?) I've never seen such a group of scruffy, miserable people in one place since the 60's. One of their keynote speakers was Cynthia Mc Kinnon, the single worst congresscritter now serving, if that's what she is doing. ANSWER was responsible for her re-election. These morons are not just protestors, they were talking about how they will soon take over the government. Isn't that treason? They are the enemy within and should not be ignored.
Bush is SIGNIFICANTLY wiser than his opponents.....
One of Neal's best ever!
I'd be willing to bet that W's "G" word (GOD) turns out to be more offensive than the "F" word. (in the Media, that is)
Great article; thanks for posting it!
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