“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.”

Compelled compliance, licensing, governmental larceny with impunity, victimless crimes, enforced fiat credit as a monetary system, suppression of habeas corpus and religious expression, etc., etc., etc. are all forms of Tyranny and Oppression without benefit of fighting or involving a foreign enemy.

Mike from Norwalk,I absolutely agree with you.

We've been living with a soft tyranny for decades now. And every excuse for usurpation and government expansion has been a war of some kind...even the "war on drugs" is an example.

More Madison Please!!

People are always willing to give up liberty when we are fighting a war or have some sort of a crisis. The latest example is the global warming hoax.

Y'all remember Sparta and Athens. Sparta won because it was a tight knit tyrannical oppressive regime as compaed to the Athenians. I agree with Jim that the closing of ranks required to fight a common enemy may lead to a temporary loss of some other freedom of action. Necessity is the mother of invention and of common action. I think Jim you are off your nut calling the opinion of the overwhelming percent of the worlds scientific community a hoax. You would have kept good company with the Popes and Queen Isabela who called Copernicus, Gallileo and Columbus hoaxsters. You know what Columbus said to Isabel when he returned from America, "You are wrong Queen the earth is round it is you that is flat."

Madison's prescience may have been more accurate than he ever imagined. The truth of his statement has become so recognized by the rich and powerful that war has become permanent. Orwell's 1984 is here to stay.

Shakespeare: "Giddy the people's minds with foreign wars and you can get away with anything at home." While American's mnds were giddied with Viet Nam, those giddiers got away with our silver coins and made us all dependent on strips of paper that the giddiers get in unlimited amounts for nothing, THIS IS $LAVERY! Worse yet, the ideal $lavery fron the master's viewpoint is when most slaves will ridicule and punish the few who seek their freedom. "None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe that they are free,"--Johann W. vonGoethe

Tyranny, oppression and worse will come to this land under the guise of fighting a foreign enemy because Bush had it right the first time. We are fighting "evil-doers" who are trying to take control of the country within at this very moment.

... and so it has come to be...

This is the perfect brief synopsis of 20th century history (and perhaps the 21st as well).

And yet we fall for it everytime - he who stands by and does nothing is just as guilty. We have allowed this nearly eight years of hell while the perpetrators have lined their pockets with gold. The selfishness, greed, apathy, intolerance, and arrogance is our staple diet in America, along with listening to the Rush Limbaugh's of this world, and watching ESPN while scoffing McDonald's and washing it down with beer...

A faceless enemy is one that entails ceaseless warfare. A war on terror is not a war that can be won. It is merely a war to create fear amongst the people so they will willingly give up their liberties.

Good quote for the time it was said but I doubt he had any inkling how many imaginary enemies we could create to manipulate the people. He was not referring to real enemies by the way. To ignore the real ones you are giving your country over to some external tyrant as so many of you seem to be ok with. The biggest enemy we have is within. Global warming hoax is now probably the biggest threat to our freedom. It is affecting the availability of food world wide as well as choking off our access to domestic sources of energy. We have not built a refinery in 30 years and cry because gas prices are high and blame it on the Arabs. We do not drill for oil in the gulf because of leftist propaganda while seeing nothing wrong with Cuba, Mexico, or Venezuela doing it instead. We deny the state of Alaska the right to drill for oil in their own state as they wish to do and claim it is for their own good. We claim we are for energy independence while doing every thing we can to ensure that we will be even more dependent in the future.

And those who impose tyranny are tyrants. As T. Roosevelt said "you cannot placate a tyrant, he will never understand compassion or mercy. The only thing that he will understand is courage and force" So how about it America. Is this still a country of the people, for the people and by the people. Or is it now a country of the politicians, for the judges, and by the cops. There is not much time left, wake up or die in your sleep. God help our children.

But Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia, people! We need to come together to defeat this never-ending, non-specific threat!

If the Continental Army, on bloody feet... Marched into our neighborhoods today, they'd line us up against the wall and execute us for treason... For what we've allowed the government to do in the name of keeping us "safe".

I use this quote often. Sadly, Mr. Madison's analysis can be used frequently to describe the actions taken by both sides of our current 2-party aisle. Both in the "war on drugs", republicans (not to be confused with true conservatives like Madison himself) with foreign wars, and liberals with the "war on poverty". Sadly last 2 liberal presidents were also far too involved in foreign wars as well (especially undeclared ones). Few folks out there understand liberty and both sides of the aisle use the brilliant scheme of demonizing the other side and thus avoiding the scrutiny of their now rabid followers.

I wish the wonderful quotes I find here were properly sourced

The biggest force that oppresses us is ourselves. If this country violently falls it is because it has weakened from within itself. We as a nation must come to terms that our personal relations with our countrymen are not based on honorable intent. Our closest relationships are based on ulterior motives. So we spend our time diverting our aggression on others including other nations. The most publicized relationship of our nation has been the "romantic" stylized goings on of a rich, "handsome,""educated" president and his "beautiful" socialite wife. This masquerade "camolot" affair captured the world's attention only have Mrs. Kennedy shoot President Kennedy at point blank range launching much of his head off his shoulders. It is time that we introduce ourselves to ourselves and make the changes that ensure acceptance.

You may wonder why my version of the Kennedy assassination is so different from  everyone else's. Well I was not involved in it for one thing. I believe in fair trials as I have posted before. Shear unbiased observation is what ruled my judgement.

You might also wonder why Jacqueline Boviuer Kennedy would want to kill her husband? It's a multifaceted culmination  of competing forces that lead to this drastic action.  With the duration of time I hope to explain the whole situation. But I will leave you with this: Mrs Kennedy had the same characteristic approach as Coretta Scott King and Mary Todd Lincoln

And to keep it objective Abraham, Martain, and John were not our friends as the lyricists Dion sang, they were just too mentally unsound. Mentally sound individuals are always a friend.

I'm sorry editor and all I deviated from one quote, one comment desire. I'll try not do that again. This can of worms was just too tempting. Sorry, Sorry, Sorry!