Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Liberty is More Precious than Gold


Right Turn on Main Street by Mark Steyn

I'm a foreigner. In the wake of the economic meltdown last fall, there were protests from Iceland to Bulgaria, with mobs all demanding the same thing of their rulers: Why didn’t you the government do more for me? This is the only country in the developed world where hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets to tell the state: I can do just fine if you’d only get the hell out of my life – or at least confine yourself to constitutional responsibilities. I find that heartening and hopeful. After all, if you’re an immigrant, there’s nothing new about Obama: Been there, done that. He's the land where we grew up, with its union bullies and marginal tax rates and government automobiles and general air of sclerosis, all re-emerging Brigadoon-like from the mists entirely unspoilt by progress. It's like landing at Ellis Island in 1883, coming down the gangplank, and finding everyone excited about this pilot program they’ve introduced called "serfdom".

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