"Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day;
but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, and pursued
unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a
deliberate and systematical plan of reducing us to slavery."
- Thomas Jefferson
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't
pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for,
protected, and handed onto them to do the same, or one day we will spend our
sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was
once like in the United States where men were free."
- Ronald Reagan
"This nation came into being only through freedom of choice, sacrifice,
labor, and struggle. Brave Americans gave their lives in the settlement of this
nation -- and in its preservation. Let us remember our heritage and recognize
that the day of courage, labor, and sacrifice is never done. For the welfare of
America, each citizen must develop a keener sense of responsibility for the
solution of public questions -- all public questions.
"Our people must think. They must discuss. They must have the courage of
their convictions. They must decide on a course of action and they must follow
through. All this must be done freely, in the open, without government dictation
or control." (Ezra Taft Benson, Dept. of Agriculture under Eisenhower,
"The Red Carpet," p. 312; see also _Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson_ p.
579)
"This government never of itself furthered any enterprise, but by the
alacrity with which it got out of its way. It does not keep the country
free. It does not settle the West. It does not educate. The
character inherent in the American people has done all that has been
accomplished; and it would have done somewhat more, if the government had not
sometimes got in its way. For government is an expedient by which men would fain
succeed in letting one another alone; and, as has been said, when it is most
expedient, the governed are most let alone by it." (Henry D. Thoreau, Civil
Disobedience, 1849)
"This is a new event in the history of mankind. Heretofore most
governments have been formed by tyrants, and imposed on mankind by force. Never
before did a people, in time of peace and tranquility, meet together by their
representatives, and, with calm deliberation, frame for themselves a system of
government." (Samuel Huntington, as quoted in W. Cleon Skousen’s The Making of America,
p. 194)
"Posterity: you will never know how
much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make
good use of it." - John Quincy
Adams
"My God! How little do my
countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no
other people on earth enjoy!" - Thomas Jefferson
Free Enterprise System
Early "Americans adhered rather closely to the free market ideal that
people should remain free to find their own solutions for economic problems,
whether caused by industry or by nature. The force of government would be used,
if deemed necessary, only at the local level, under local control, to meet local
needs. And as a result, America became a new promised land.
"We later Americans have all but forfeited the great charter of liberty
that made possible the miracle of America. It still exists for us to examine. If
we still like it, we can reestablish it. Doing that will require as much
persistence and dedication and plain hard work on our part as was required of
the eighteenth-century gentlemen who created it. It will require as much labor
to regain it as it did to create it, but thankfully not more."(Lawrence
Patton McDonald, We Hold These Truths, p. 14-15, ‘76 Press, 1976)
"With all of its weaknesses, our free
enterprise system has accomplished in terms of human welfare that which no other
economic or social system has ever approached. Our freedom of individual
opportunity permits us to draw upon our natural resources and upon the total
brain and brawn power of the nation in a most effective manner. This freedom of
individual choice inspires competition. Competition inspires shrewd and
efficient management, which is conducive to the production of the best product
possible at the lowest price." (Ezra Taft Benson, Department of Agriculture
under Eisenhower, God, Family, Country, p. 310, Deseret Book Company,
1974)
"Self-government involves self-control,
self-discipline, an acceptance of and the most unremitting obedience to correct
principles... No other form of government requires so high a degree of
individual morality." (Albert E. Bowen, Improvement Era, vol. 41
[1938], p. 266)
Freedom of the Press
/ Speech
"The liberty of the press is indeed essential
to the nature of a free state; but this consists in laying no previous
restraints upon publication, and not in freedom from censure from criminal
matter when published. Every freeman has an undoubted right to lay what
sentiments he pleases before the public: to forbid this, is to destroy the
freedom of the press: but if he publishes what is improper, mischievous, or
illegal, he must take the consequence of his own temerity. To subject the press
to the restrictive power of a licenser... is to subject all freedom of sentiment
to the prejudice of [whatever agency has the power to issue or withhold the
license]." (Blackstone’s Commentaries as quoted by Congressman Lawrence
Patton McDonald in We Hold These Truths, p. 42, ‘76 Press, 1976)
"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be
construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." -
U.S. Constitution 9th Amendment
"I thank God that I have lived to see my country independent and free.
She may long enjoy her independence and freedom if she will. It depends upon her
virtue." (Samuel Adams, Wells, The Life of Samuel Adams, 3:175)
“Our citizens may be deceived for awhile,
and have been deceived; but as long as the
presses can be protected, we may trust to them for light.” - Thomas Jefferson
"If the freedom of speech is taken away then
dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to
the slaughter.” - George Washington
"A people may prefer a free government, but if, from indolence, or
carelessness, or cowardice, or want of public spirit, they are unequal to the
exertions necessary for preserving it; if they will not fight for it when it is
directly attacked; if they can be deluded by the artifices used to cheat them
out of it; if by momentary discouragement, or temporary panic, or a fit of
enthusiasm for an individual, they can be induced to lay their liberties at the
feet even of a great man, or trust him with powers which enable him to subvert
their institutions; in all these cases they are more or less unfit for liberty:
and though it may be for their good to have had it even for a short time, they
are unlikely long to enjoy it." (John Stuart Mill, Considerations on
Representative Government [London:Parker, Son, and Bourn, West Strand.,
1861], p.6)
"The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and
enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings, capable of laws, where
there is no law there is no freedom. For liberty is to be free from restraint
and violence from others, which cannot be where there is no law; and is not, as
we are told, ‘a liberty for every man to do what he lists.’ For who could be
free, when every other man’s humor might domineer over him? But a liberty to
dispose and order freely as he lists his person, actions, possessions, and his
whole property within the allowance of those laws under which he is, and therein
not to be subject to the arbitrary will of another, but freely follow his
own." (John Locke, Two Treatises, Book 2, no. 57)
"What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence? It is
not our frowning battlements, our bristling seacoasts... our reliance is in the
love of liberty which God has planted in us. Our defense is in the spirit which
prized liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands everywhere."
(Abraham Lincoln, In Love With Eloquence, p. 33)
Threats to Freedom
Fear is the foundation of most governments.” - John Adams
"Does the government fear us? Or do we fear the government? When the
people fear the government, tyranny has found victory. The federal government is our servant, not our master!” -Thomas
Jefferson
"A people may prefer a free government, but if, from indolence, or
carelessness, or cowardice, or want of public spirit, they are unequal to the
exertions necessary for preserving it; if they will not fight for it when it is
directly attacked; if they can be deluded by the artifices used to cheat them
out of it; if by momentary discouragement, or temporary panic, or a fit of
enthusiasm for an individual, they can be induced to lay their liberties at the
feet even of a great man, or trust him with powers which enable him to subvert
their institutions; in all these cases they are more or less unfit for liberty:
and though it may be for their good to have had it even for a short time, they
are unlikely long to enjoy it." (John Stuart Mill, Considerations on
Representative Government [London:Parker, Son, and Bourn, West Strand.,
1861], p.6)
"Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their
disposition to put moral chains on their own appetites... Society cannot exist
unless a controlling power upon the will and appetite be placed somewhere, and
the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained
in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be
free. Their passions forge their fetters." (Edmund Burke, The Works of
Edmund Burke, vol. 4, Waltham, Mass.: Little, Brown, 1866, pp. 51-52)
"Safety from external danger is the most powerful director of national
conduct. Even the ardent love of liberty will, after a time, give way to its
dictates. The violent destruction of life and property incident to war, the
continual effort and alarm attendant on a state of continual danger, will compel
nations the most attached to liberty to resort for repose and security to
institutions which have a tendency to destroy their civil and political rights.
To be more safe, they at length become willing to run the risk of being less
free." (Alexander Hamilton, as quoted in W. Cleon Skousen’s The Making
of America, p. 237)
"Liberty exists in proportion to wholesome restraining."
-
Daniel Webster
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” - Benjamin Franklin
Defending Liberty
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at
the price of chains and slavery? - I know not what course others may take; but
as for me, give me liberty or give me death." -
Patrick Henry
"God grants liberty
only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it." -
Daniel Webster
"If ye love wealth
greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating
contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor
your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set
lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." -
Samuel Adams
"A patriot must always
be ready to defend his country against his government." - Edward Abbey
“One
man with courage is a majority.” - Thomas Jefferson
“It does not
require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority
keen to set brush fires in people's minds.” - Samuel Adams
“The means of
defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments
of tyranny at home.” - James Madison
"The liberties of our
country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all
hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received
them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us
with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to
us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the
present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested
from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the
artifices of false and designing men." - Samuel Adams
"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the
sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country;
but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."
- Thomas Paine
