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Great ping, Tolik. And Bill, what a profound thought! I love. Steyn’s broad, international perspective. The man is too brilliant for most colleges; his brain power would intimidate the professors. In fact, if they want super genius children, he and Ann Coulter should contact each other and marry immediately. Regarding Billthedrill's brain teaser: “There does not seem to be a historical precedent for an incremental increase in human freedom. It's a jagged curve and it's covered in blood.”

At first I thought you were correct, Bill. It certainly seems that incremental freedom never happens. But not exactly. Remember JFK's middle class tax cut? Then we had tax increases all over again. Then we had price freezes. But price freezes were a disaster; we got rid of them. Then the Reagan Revolution, which I believe was incremental. Then there was the incremental rise in free speech on the radio. Then technology brought us free speech on the internet. Now we are about to experience an explosion of competition on basic [digital] TV. Bottom line — freedom is a tug-of-war. Sometimes the US feels compelled to take freedom away through the draft. Talk about a loss of freedom! And then, the draft is ended when no longer needed.

Kicking a dead horse one last time, look at gun rights. Yes, much has been lost, but also much has been regained. We're advancing and losing ground one yard at a time. I would be happy with across-the-board gridlock because that would give us time to expose more lies. Time is on the side of Truth. But we are suffering rapid change, all in the wrong direction.

Perhaps the US is unique in restoring freedom incrementally at times? I don't know enough about foreign democracies to answer that myself. But we do live in dangerous times, no doubt about it. Two things concern me the most: the sharp rise in voter fraud and dual citizenship voting. They are the greatest dangers. If too many conservatives ever turn cynical and conclude that there's no point in voting, that would decimate our nation's stability. We could turn into another thug-ocracy like Mexico.

“But when [freedom’s] taken away a little at a time, can we as easily say that only that little bit of freedom is worth dying for?”

Right. If, God forbid, some group of militia men decide to rebel, they'll find themselves alone. As individuals, we each have our own breaking point. Odds are very low that every red blooded American would spontaneously reach that breaking point at the same time. I can't be certain though. With a president who thinks we have fifty seven states, who mistakenly thought he was in a banking commission, who publicly wants to have sex ed for kindergartners, and who is stupid enough to be in favor of legalizing the murder of living, fully born babies, maybe he is dopey enough to provoke people with some monstrously stupid act of tyranny. But with the Clintonista holding him by the hand, I doubt it. They are the velvet glove over the steel fist.

The good news is that Mark Steyn is teaching people how to be cheeky and cheerful about poking fun at these people. Coming from a nation where conservatives are the underdog, he has the right spirit for the times. His sense of humor is contagious.