Quote 439 of 497

Most of us are not Patrick Henry and would be willing to lose a great
deal of freedom in order to save our lives. This is especially true
when the freedom in question is that of foreigners with funny names,
but it is true of our own freedom as well. It's not even necessarily
deplorable. Giving up a certain amount of freedom in exchange for the
safety and comfort of civilized society is what government is all
about, according to guys like Hobbes and Locke, who influenced the
Founding Fathers. And that's good government. Many people live under
bad governments that take away more freedom than necessary and choose
not to become heroes. That is not a contemptible choice, especially if
we're talking France, or maybe even China, and not Stalin's Russia or
Hitler's Germany. The notion that freedom is indivisible--if you lose
a little, you have lost it all; if one person is deprived of liberty,
then we all are--is sweet, and useful for indoctrinating children. But
it just isn't true.
		-- Michael Kinsley, "Give Me Liberty or Let Me Think
		   About It", Slate, 2006-01-13
		   http://www.slate.com/id/2134215/

Tags: germany china russia freedom governments heroes notion hitler slate foreigners stalin foundingfathers patrickhenry civilizedsociety michaelkinsley funnynames hobbesandlocke