"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." – Benjamin Franklin

"When you abandon freedom to achieve security, you lose both and deserve neither." – Thomas Jefferson

Brilliant statements from Franklin and Jefferson, and I certainly couldn't improve upon either of them. Freedom obviously demands some security, but the more security one has (if that security is transferred into the hands of government, as it almost always is), the less freedom there will be. The Founders hoped that our security would come largely from personal virtue (i.e., the Judeo-Christian moral code); even Franklin wrote, "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." If people choose to be virtuous—that is, if they select true freedom—their liberties will be secure. If security is forced upon them, they lose those freedoms. And usually security as well. Is forced security really security? Is government "security" to be trusted? Ask the people of the Soviet Union, China, and other communist countries.

So, it isn't a strict choice between security and freedom. We do need some of the former to protect the latter. But the less security-producing virtue that comes from within us, the more freedom-limiting power we must give to government. And what government ever stops trying to gain more power? You "lose both and deserve neither" liberty or security, for what part of either do we have under a tyrannical, totalitarian government?

"Our Constitution was made........

© Townhall