Wednesday, December 06, 2006

This is a free country.

Haven't you heard that refrain at least once a week since you were in kindergarten? Have you ever really considered what that means?

A few quotes to consider:
"Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

"No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck."
Frederick Douglas

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same."
Ronald Reagan

"First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me."
Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945


I put to you, my fellow citizens, that rights you would deny others are rights you yourself will lose. And when you stand idly by while others are abused, you are helping to dig the pit into which you yourself may someday be tossed.