Twisted “Liberty”
“There is a limit to the legitimate interference of collective opinion with individual independence: and to find that limit, and maintain it against encroachment, is as indispensable to a good condition of human affairs, as protection against political despotism.”
Excuse me, but let’s admit the proverbial crank of the “Tea Party” that espouses “Liberty” from the chairs of the very government which they claim to oppose. Rand Paul’s launch into the Presidential race this week has me wondering if I learned the same American History that he did. Maybe I have it wrong, but is not liberty about the freedom of individual will and the lack of intrusion by a despotic government?
I do not recall excerpts of Hitler discussing personal liberty or Mao Tse-tung building bridges to encourage individual freedom. I recall that America has long stood for the principal that government is intended to secure individual freedoms for everyone. The Tea Party in itself is an oxymoron with individuals unsuitable for governmental seats. Only those seeking to encourage true liberty should call themselves “libertarians.” The Tea Party might be believable at its lowest level. Those who go to the meetings of local governments to discuss the invasion of liberty-the gentleman who complains about regulation of the chickens in his yard; the lady who questions the rights of developers to gain private use of a public right-of-way; the group campaigning against the evils of liquor at 4:00 a.m.-they truly may be libertarians. But for a Senator to claim to be a libertarian and the minority Republican voice, vote with the Republican party 92% of the time, ask for the Republican nomination, and wallow in taxpayer dollars, is a joke.
"Give me liberty, or give me death!" Please, give me anything other than the double-speak of the Tea Party.
“There is a limit to the legitimate interference of collective opinion with individual independence: and to find that limit, and maintain it against encroachment, is as indispensable to a good condition of human affairs, as protection against political despotism.”
Excuse me, but let’s admit the proverbial crank of the “Tea Party” that espouses “Liberty” from the chairs of the very government which they claim to oppose. Rand Paul’s launch into the Presidential race this week has me wondering if I learned the same American History that he did. Maybe I have it wrong, but is not liberty about the freedom of individual will and the lack of intrusion by a despotic government?
I do not recall excerpts of Hitler discussing personal liberty or Mao Tse-tung building bridges to encourage individual freedom. I recall that America has long stood for the principal that government is intended to secure individual freedoms for everyone. The Tea Party in itself is an oxymoron with individuals unsuitable for governmental seats. Only those seeking to encourage true liberty should call themselves “libertarians.” The Tea Party might be believable at its lowest level. Those who go to the meetings of local governments to discuss the invasion of liberty-the gentleman who complains about regulation of the chickens in his yard; the lady who questions the rights of developers to gain private use of a public right-of-way; the group campaigning against the evils of liquor at 4:00 a.m.-they truly may be libertarians. But for a Senator to claim to be a libertarian and the minority Republican voice, vote with the Republican party 92% of the time, ask for the Republican nomination, and wallow in taxpayer dollars, is a joke.
"Give me liberty, or give me death!" Please, give me anything other than the double-speak of the Tea Party.
[i] John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) On
Liberty, 1869.
[ii] “Today begins the journey
to take back America, to rescue a great country, now adrift. If you love
liberty, stand with me! If you want to defeat the Washington machine, stand
with me!” Rand Paul, Presidential Announcement April 7, 2015.
[iii] "The great masses of the people...will more easily fall victims to a
big lie than to a small one." Adolf
Hitler, (1889-1945), Mein Kampf, 1933.
[v] “We support policies that protect and defend personal freedom and
individual rights, and the ability to pursue the American Dream without
government intrusion. We also support policies that will reclaim those freedoms
and rights that have been eroded through intrusive policies of unaccountable
politicians and Washington bureaucrats, many of whom answer to special
interests and lobbyists rather than their electorate.” http://www.teapartypatriots.org/ourvision/personal-freedom/.
[vi] “The people are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our
liberty.” Thomas Jefferson, (1743-1826) Letter, to Uriah Forrest, 31 Dec 1787.
[vii] Patrick Henry, (1736–1799), excerpt, Speech, Virginia Convention (1775).
