President Barack Obama, while speaking in Strasbourg France, made the following remarks.
We know that transformational change is possible. We know this because of three reasons: First, because, for all our differences, there are certain values that bind us together and reveal our common humanity: the universal longing to live a life free from fear, and free from want; a life marked by dignity and respect and simple justice.
When I read that, I must admit, I was far from free from fear and want. Actually, such sentiments uttered by the leader of the free world make me very fearful. As I tweeted on the topic I thought. The only way to be free from fear, to be free from want, is to free from freedom. Any government that promises freedom from fear or want, seeks to do so only to have you give up your freedom without a fight.
So it was that while I was mulling this truth that I came across a most remarkable video at the wonderful American Catholic.
This video, produced in 1948, examines the role of liberty and free markets in our American Society and warns of what happens when, seeing all its imperfections, we are tempted to trade our freedoms for the ISM that President Barack Obama is trying to sell. It is almost ten minutes, but I think that really speaks to our times and what is in store for us if we are sold the lie that we can be free from fear or want if only we buy what the State is selling us.
Don’t you also find it remarkable that this video was produced by a college?
April 6, 2009 at 3:54 am
Don’t you also find it remarkable that this video was produced by a college?
No, not considering that a lot of the men who were in college in 1948 had just got back from fighting WWII and attending on the GI Bill.
April 6, 2009 at 4:53 am
Amy,
Of course my point in the remark is that it would be almost unthinkable for a college to produce something like this Today. I hoped that would be obvious.
April 6, 2009 at 12:37 pm
As I was watching the video, it struck me that all the freedoms we have as Americans, and all the benefits of a capitalist society, are what we’re expected to feel guilty about today. I heard on Rush last week that more and more people are feeling guilty if they’re employed.
How far we’ve fallen in 60 years.
April 6, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Extremely interesting, Patrick. Thank you.
April 6, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Straight talk…isn’t that what we’re all waiting to hear? Unfortunately, the powers that be don’t seem to speak our language anymore…
April 6, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Patrick, I didn’t mean to seem dense. I have to agree with you. I just can’t imagine a college today producing something like this. What I find to be remarkably disturbing is that anyone feels that they have to apologize for being successful or even employed. We really have fallen quite far. I can’t imagine what my grandfathers, who fought in ,would say about our country right now.
April 6, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Depends on the college. I think a small school focused on classical education, logical thinking, and rhetoric would be capable of work like this. Or, in a large school, a small group of kids who appreciate the freedom of opportunity they’ve got…
I think what the President was doing was echoing the Norman Rockwell paintings of the same titles (two of the Four Freedoms that he painted in, I believe, the late 50’s). I don’t believe that Mr. Rockwell expected or desired the government to be the means behind those freedoms, however.
April 6, 2009 at 5:56 pm
That’s amazing…it looks like nothing ever changes, even from generation to generation – there’s always a snake-oil salesman trying to sell you a bill of goods! Hopefully, they’ll hear our voices at the Tea Parties and the next elections!