An hour of freedom is worth a barrel of slopsGiven the amount of outlay (tax dollars in hock to the Chinese, dead GIs, innocent civilians KIA, etc...) have we gotten a fair return with regards to our freedom?
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Freedom
Came across a wonderful quote in a lovely book that resonates for me, and left me wondering about what we have spent for "freedom" in this whole conflagration called the "War on Terror." Points to the blogger who can tell us who said this to whom and in what story:
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4 comments:
Part A: ''in hock to the Chinese''
The USA may owe enough to own our lenders.
Part B: ''a fair return with regards to our freedom?''
The return on the GWOT to the US is negative. We have given up freedom rather than gained it. In the face of persistent terror, the Israelis are smart enough not to change the way they live. Not us. The mistake the US made and continues to make, is to treat 'terror' as something out of the ordinary. It has been around forever. It will be around forever.
okay Windspike I give up...I spent the last three days trying to find this quote- Jefferson? Lincoln? Twain? nope...okay WHO is it???
Hey, E4E - sorry to tangle up your search engine for so long. I checked my reference and found that I had one contraction and an extra word in the sentence. That may have caused you trouble. I do apologize. I fixed the quote for all.
The source....are you ready? Charlotte's Web - the goose to Wilbur after he escapes from his pen the first time.
''An hour of freedom is worth a barrel of slops.''
Lacking context as this quotation does, makes it a more interesting question, one that turns on whether or not one has in hand the barrel of slops, and, secondarily, the size of the barrel. People are generally less willing to give up something they have, than they are to forgo receiving something they don't have. Freedom ain't free but for most people freedom appears more expensive when they have to give up something for it. Which is why there isn't a draft; politicians understand this calculus intuitively.
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