Abraham Lincoln On The Nature And Objects of Government

During president Obama’s State Of The Union Address last night I was impressed to hear him quote, or attempt to quote, Abraham Lincoln. All thoughts on the present administration aside, I do sincerely believe that if this administration, or any administration, would truly live by these great words of freedom.. that it’s people would truly be free.

“The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do at all, or cannot so well do, for themselves in their separate and individual capacities.” Abraham Lincoln, July 1, 1854

James Madison on Framing A Government

A few days ago, while reading an article on health care reform, I came across this great quote from James Madison.

In these Words of Freedom you can see the foresight our founding father had and perhaps a glimpse of their fear of the future.

“In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” ~ James Madison

George W. Bush On Justice

Last night, with the news Osama bin Laden had been killed by US Special Forces, I was reminded of these words from President Bush’s speech to a join t session of Congress immediately following the terrorist attacks of 9/11:

“Tonight we are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom. Our grief has turned to anger, and anger to resolution. Whether we bring our enemies to justice, or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.” ~ George W. Bush, September 20, 2001

John Parker On The Start Of The Revolution

On April 19, 1775, approximately 80 Lexington Militia lead by John Parker stood in parade formation on the Lexington Green as British Regulars approached on their way to Concord. The British were marching to Concord in hopes of confiscating a store of arms they believed would be found there and, if possible, to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock.

Parker wisely chose to deploy his men on the Lexington Green so as not to imped the British on their march or force a confrontation. To the British, however, their presence was a challenge that could not be ignored.

Who fired the first shot that day is forever lost in time, but the words of John Parker will live forever. For me they speak to the very nature of the American character. For me there were no Americans before such men were willing to stand and fight for freedom.

“Stand your ground; don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.” ~ John Parker, April 19, 1775

Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address

On this date 147 years ago, the most famous speech in American history was delivered at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

These immortal words of freedom need no further introduction:

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” ~ Abraham Lincoln

George Bernard Shaw on Science and Faith

Having tried all day to tweet bits and pieces of this quote, I have decided it belongs here on this blog. My reasoning is that freedom in the spiritual world is just as important, if not more so, than freedom in the physical world. These dying words by George Bernard Shaw, an admitted non believer in a higher power, speaks to that freedom and the regrets that can be found when one is lost from it.

“The science to which I pinned my faith is bankrupt. It’s counsels which should have established the millennium, led, instead, directly to the suicide of Europe. I believed them once. In their name I helped to destroy the faith of millions of worshippers in the temples of a thousand creeds. And now they look at me and witness the great tragedy of an atheist who has lost his faith” ~ George Bernard Shaw

Theodore Roosevelt On Daring Greatly

Yesterday I was sadly reminded that words are just words. I was reminded freedom is made possible not by words but by deeds, not by men who are simply willing to say but by men who are willing to do and to do at all costs.

These observations were not random, they were an inescapable reality pointed out in a tweet by Erick Brockway. The tweet referenced a post on the loss of 1LT Christopher S. Goeke who died last month in Kandahar City, Afghanistan, along with Staff Sgt. Christopher T. Stout, 34, of Worthville, Ky., and Staff Sgt. Sheldon L. Tate, 27, of Hinesville, Ga.

The post ended with this quote, a quote of mere words, but a quote listed as the favorite of LT Christopher S. Goeke, a doer of deeds:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” ~ Teddy Roosevelt

Theodore Parker On A Rebellious Nation

Having read a few chapters of American Progressivism this weekend, I have been giving a good deal of thought to the concept of “progress” as applied to our political institutions and the role of government of these United States.

As the book points out in the first several chapters, it is important to understand the roots of the progressive movement in order to understand its present incarnation in today’s ultra liberals who now hold influence in almost every aspect of our lives.

In that context, I think it could also be said that to understand our nation as a whole, to understand why we cannot simply “progress” towards a European model of socialism that values the society over the individual, that values the relativistic and changing will of the majority as expressed through the continually updated rule of law over natural rights, we must understand something of our own past. We must be reminded that our very existence, that our very birth, was conceived in rebellion to those beliefs that progressives now claim we must embrace for the good of the society as a whole.

In effect, we must be reminded of the truth of our past in order to be reminded of the lie that is now so repeated in our present.

“[America is] a rebellious nation. Our whole history is treason; our blood was attained before we were born; our creeds were infidelity to the mother church; our constitution treason to our fatherland.” ~ Theodore Parker

John Stuart Mill on war

I just noticed a random tweet go across my screen. It said only “Basically America supports war.” I don’t know what point that person was trying to make, or what exactly would even bring that up, but there it was in my face for me to think about.

But having seen that tweet my mind went instantly to a memory of a quote by John Stuart Mill. A quote I think is an eternal truth. A quote I think is highly relevant to the world we live in today and a quote that is definitely worthy to be called “Words of Freedom”.

“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.” ~ John Stuart Mill

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain on the great reward of service

One hundred and forty seven years ago today in a small town in Pennsylvania two great armies parted after three of the bloodiest days this nation has ever known. The two armies were the Union Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. The battle was of course Gettysburg. With casualties between 46,000 and 51,000 there is no doubt that each side had given their “last full measure” for their belief in freedom.

That so many Americans, past and present, have been willing to make such sacrifice should never be forgotten. Nor should these words of freedom:

“In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear, but spirits linger. .. This is the great reward of service, to give life’s best for such high stakes that it shall be found again unto life eternal.” ~ Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain