Indeed! Well said, Patrick Henry!

Lenoir was absolutely right! The first 10 Amendments to the Constitution have been the bulwark of defense against federal government encroachment since their passing. And every trick in the book has been used to reinterpret them to not mean exactly what they say. Government cannot be trusted!!!!!! DO you get it?!! That is why we have distributed power across counties, states, and D.C. -- not centralized it under Washington. Regulating the power of the government is the business of the people -- we are sovereign! The corruption is to turn it into a government regulating the power of the people -- never was supposed to happen!!! And here we are...

An American sentiment.

Sad that 'Freedom' is no longer a word used by the very government representatives entrusted with its protection...

Mike, the path remains the same now as it has been since the beginning. Each generation wakes up and takes the reins -- or they don't. Seems to me that this is the purpose of this world. ;-)

Hear, hear!

A little general but the sentiment is right on. Who is the one calling something 'extreme'? It is only extreme in relation to something else. Who refers to someone as a 'right-wing extremist'? Someone who considers himself extremely to the left of the right-winger. I find it funny that leftists consider themselves moderates! There are some principles for which I will not compromise -- it's called taking a stand. It has a price. Those that constantly cry about not having enough (or others having more) want me to stand for them -- and I may choose to do so. But to compel me to give up my stand without choice is essentially declaring war. Is there not one principle you could never compromise on? Have you any promises that you will keep? Moderate my ass!

Personally I don't care if the government's force is intellectual sloth -- that implies that if the force were not slothful it would then be OK to impose a vision on others. The intellectual sloth is on the part of the people themselves -- you get out of it what you put into it.

The primary task is keeping the government from doing anything it wants -- the laws are not enough, they break them as a matter of practice. It is pretty clear to me that US government powers-that-be are vastly unchecked; it's all about money now, no one speaks of liberty. Harry Browne is stating the current condition of affairs, not just a warning for the future. How the hell do we roll back all these taxing powers that are funding our own servitude? Do Blue Lives Matter so much that 2/3 of all government personnel are some form of 'law enforcement'? It's called a police state!

Good point, Carlton. The Japanese knew they were ruled, they had never been a free people. No need for double-speak, whereas in Amerika, the only reason such a dictate could not happen is because of the Constitution; hence the endless spinning of words and psycho-political jargon to further the cause of totalitarianism. Deception and confusion are the weapons of today, because the enemy is not a foreign power, but those with designs on yoking the entire populace -- and succeeding. The battle for the world has never ended. Playing god is as popular as ever!

It's a sliding scale, on the left and the right. ;-) Controlling power (cash, labor, property, fuel, food, knowledge) is all they do now -- to hell with liberty and honor, it's all voting for power now. Isn't the 'political spectrum' itself just a collection of wanna-be controllers?

Beautiful! I like, "The recourse to force, however unavoidable, is a disclosure of the failure of civilization, either in the general society or in a remnant of individuals."

American empire? Hamilton already showing the signs of nationalism/collectivism claiming the consent of the people. A republican form of government in its truest sense is a government by consent of the people.

Adams has a point. Freedom may not be lost all at once, but once a foundational pillar is removed, the descent begins. Fortunately the Declaration of Independence still stands and cannot be amended! The US government has gradually been transformed into a de facto fascism with rigged elections and state media. The first major pillar to come down was the recognition of each State being a sovereign state, whose association in the Union was by consent. From then on, the tone of the US Constitution got flipped from a rule book for the government to a rule book for the People. The 2nd major pillar has been removed several times and replaced, but missing now -- the forced use of debt-bearing notes for money instead of gold and silver as prescribed by law. Giving the power to government to pay interest on printed up money, that they could have printed themselves interest-free, transferred the complete economic power of the nation to a private central bank, who have now the power to rule ALL nations, crowns, popes, and people.

Freedom lost? I may say 'no, I am still free,' but wait until a traffic stop or border crossing or bank transaction or tax collector. Freedom is a state of mind -- it would be nice though if it was the state of the outside world, too.

Freedom is not an end, it is a way. I live free and deal with what comes my way. Humankind has been trying to liberate itself from bondage since the beginning -- this is just today's version. ;-)

A individual's ignorance or denial of his responsibility leads to master-servant relationships with others -- it's been a popular racket for eons. Taking responsibility for oneself is the 1st step of liberating oneself from such a paradigm. Freedom and responsibility go hand-in-hand. Groupisms formed by political party consciousness justify the corruption of the principle of Liberty for the illusion of security. America was founded upon the principle of Liberty, having been liberated from the claims of Crown and Pope. Self-determination is not a goal, it is the way.

Broadcast 'news' is designed to get a specific response. Forget about the content being published, look into the reasons such responses are desired. The same numbers can be made to look like the trend is good or bad. What are they really trying to sell me?

Resisting other people's plans and designs for me is not selfish -- it is self-determination.

If progress is simply the pursuit of more, better, and different, then isn't it simply perpetual intolerance?

A Puritanical streak is still strong in America -- the promise of a better day has been the appeal of the left and the right, never ceasing their preaching.

If the techniques used by Madison Avenue to put McDonald's jingles into our heads were instead used to instill a sense of wholeness and responsibility (do we not hunger for that as well?), can you imagine the fruits? Most every child knows the words to commercials without ever attending a class or reading a book. What are they really learning throughout their day to day?

Mick, please understand that the US Constitution is a rule book for the government, not the People. The powers granted to the government are specific and numerable, and there are several prohibitions upon the subject government. This is not political correctness, this is the law! To act outside of the specific bounds of these laws is treasonous. There is no compromise -- either change the rules lawfully or pay the price for breaking them. Congress shall make no law abridging the rights to possess military arms -- what part of "shall make no law" is not clear? The dangers and detriments are to those that seek power over others, that's why they never cease to undermine the foundation of liberty. In America, the citizen is sovereign, and the government subject. In Manchester, the Queen is sovereign, and the citizens subject. The two ideologies are completely opposite each other at their very foundations. The Muslim mayor's response to the Manchester bombing is the epitome of political correctness -- nothing to see here, folks, move along, get used to it, it's completely normal ...

Better to not know than to hold on tightly to lies.

It's tongue-in-cheek but certainly has been my experience -- that is, the events to which I have personal knowledge have been reported falsely so often, I can only assume the rest is also mostly fiction.

Thanks, Mike!

Mandatory education by the state IS communistic -- it's one of the central planks. I love how Reston thinks what he got from a government school was an 'education.' ;-)

Please, someone, show me a journalist! Show me someone who will always report the whole story, even the parts that might offend people, Show me someone who will report both sides of the issue, giving no fair advantage. How can you trust a person who lies to himself/herself?

The press has always been a field of battle for the attention of the people with the primary purpose to SELL them something -- not just soap but a culture of dependence (i.e. consumption). Fear being the primary marketing technique in order to get the programmed response. Journalism my a$$.

Propaganda, all, including FOX, just from a different chapter in the same fraternity. The stories you are getting are the stories they WANT you to get. The real untold news are the motivations and intentions of those spinning the stories, and why. We are talking about immense power here -- the loudspeakers of the world in the hands of a few dozen people. Everything broadcast is suspect!