I can't tell you how many comments I have read on websites, such as digg.com and slashdot , quoting Ben Franklin with regards to our country's current political upheaval. In a comment thread debating Bush's Martial Law, I stumbled upon another brilliant quote in a discussion of Bush's tactic of selling safety, in place of freedom:
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-Benjamin Franklin
Damn, that is cool. To me, heroes require ideals and associated convictions stronger than most people can possibly imagine (can you spot the cheesy Star Wars reference?). Anyways, this dude is damn inspiring.
My childhood, hell, my whole life, has often revolved around heroes of some type. Not always the good guy (i.e. Darth Vader), but always a hero of sorts in my eyes with larger than life ideals. Batman, George Washington, Robin Hood, Thomas Jefferson, James Bond, Zorro, The Lone Ranger, Dirk Pitt, Chuck Norris (I couldn't resist that one. :) ). These are the heroes that shaped me into the oddity that exists these days. I think I missed one, big time, in Mr. Franklin. Ben may be the ultimate American Hero. Maybe I should read that book of his sitting on my shelf...
Thursday, November 09, 2006
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1 comments:
Let's not forget that the revolutionary war was really about being overtaxed...
Also, there wasn't the type of terrorism back then that exists today. More than anything Franklin and the rest of the Revolutionaries where Terrorists against the English Parliament and that is how they won the war and that is what we are up against...
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