A Precious Thing

These are not the beaches of Normandy nor the sands of Iwo Jima or the shores of Hawaii. Just our beautiful
Pacific coast of Oregon. But no less necessary to defend.

"Freedom is a precious thing,

it is never a guarantee,
it is not ours by inheritance alone,

it must be fought for
and defended by each generation"

~ Ronald Reagan ~

~~~~

For the past few weeks I have been contemplating
this theme relentlessly.
I've been like the sleeper who is struggling to wake
from a pleasant and beautiful dream,
who was too groggy to realize...
the smoke alarm has been shrilly blaring.

Is it too late to save the house?
Shall I run out the front door in my pajamas?
Do I have time to gather a few precious things?
(like the freedoms that yet remain?)
Perhaps a bucket brigade can still be formed
to save the house.
But it takes a lot of people to pass the buckets
and a large supply of water.
And I hope the doors aren't locked and
bolted on the outside.
I'm only one small person with one small bucket.

(Oh politics! That negative subject that seems so impossible to understand,

and so very impolite to talk about at a party.

How can I decipher whether what I read and hear is true?

It is just too complicated and confusing. Let others, smarter than I, figure it all out.

I don't have time, I'm way too busy.)

~~~~~

“Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms (of government)
those entrusted with power
have, in time, and by slow operations,
perverted it into tyranny”

“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience
to remain silent.”

~Thomas Jefferson~

Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority.
It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people

against the dangers of good intentions.
There are men in all ages who mean to govern well,
but they mean to govern.
They promise to be good masters,
but they mean to be masters.

~Daniel Webster~

The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people,
it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government
– lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.

~ Patrick Henry~


[On ancient Athens]: In the end, more than freedom, they wanted security.
They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all – security, comfort, and freedom.
When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society
but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most
was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free
and was never free again.

~ Edward Gibbon~