Not well thought out. The only way government can protect us from assault is to lock everybody up. In the U.S., our own governments only retaliate against those who assault us, after the fact. As a free person I can at least defend myself. As a slave of the State I am helpless. Liberty trumps imaginary safety.

Abe made a lot of mistakes, but this one is a whopper!

Coming from the perpetrator of the Trail of Tears, it rings a little hollow. And the quote should apply also the poor & powerful: the mob.

Empty rhetoric for domestic consumption only. The speaker, who led the U.S. into Southeast Asia, did not survive to see his successors abandon the South Vietnamese to the tender mercies of Communism. The price, burden & hardship were just too much.

A powerful & original argument.

These criminal legislative acts contrary to the Constitution are not objected to by the people. The acts were enacted by persons elected by the people. The people get the government they deserve.

Nothing has changed.

Supreme Court members should be required to read, and swear to understand, this before every court session. Perhaps they would be less tempted to constantly fantasize about the meaning of the clear English language in which the Constitution is written.

This has always been my favorite paragraph on liberty & government.

A little contradictory when he states that individuals should be free except when it comes to trade, but otherwise he gets most of it right.

This states it all in one short paragraph.

Especially applicable today, when attempts to point out that the emperor has no clothes are met with the response, "Shut up. Your comments offend me".

It is quite clear from Madison's comments that, in his time, "GENERAL welfare" had the same meaning as we ascribe today to the economics term "public good." Thus, that is what the Constitution means by "general welfare."

If the leaders in government today are so obviously brazen in breaking their own laws, can one conclude anything other than that we now have a government consisting largely of criminals?

One of the few countries that has enjoyed peace and (relative) freedom is Switzerland. But the Swiss don't COUNT on having both. They are heavily armed and prepared to defend their freedom, and that is Heinlein's point.

This is the real reason for the existence of the 2nd Amendment. This should not be the first choice of method to preserve liberty, but it must remain an option.

Never more timely than today.

Powerful!

100% on. Although the lust for raw power also plays a part.

There is a difference between promoting & protecting. You can protect everybody's rights to pursue their own goals without taking from others to do so. Promoting one person's objectives can, however, be done only at the expense of somebody elses goals.

Some truth here, but it's much more complicated than this. Government does this now, directly & indirectly. Even as conservative an economist as Milton Friedman thinks some inflation of the money supply is good & necessary.

Aristotle needs a course in Economics 101. He obviously has no concept of the time value of money.

Not so hot. Nazi & Allied soldiers both did what they "must" do, in spite of obstacles, etc. Morality had nothing to do with it.