"Who would have thunk it? George Bush turns out to be [Actually always was. –ed] the truer proponent of freedom," twitters Fred Thompson. Joshua Muravchik explains:
This tradition has been ruptured by the Obama administration. The new president signaled his intent on the eve of his inauguration, when he told editors of the Washington Post that democracy was less important than “freedom from want and freedom from fear."
Contrast Obama's anemic assertion last January that democracy is less important than "freedom from want and freedom from fear" — not to mention his tepid response to earth-shaking events in Iran and his ongoing "sledging strategy of intimidation" designed to discredit domestic dissent, from Fox News and talk radio on down to us bloggers and anti-statist tea partiers — with Franklin Delano Roosevelt's rousing State of the Union January 6, 1941:
The first is freedom of speech and expression — everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way — everywhere in the world.
The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants — everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor — anywhere in the world.
That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called "new order" of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.
As we twittered in response to Fred Thompson's observation above, "How telling Obama left out 2 of FDRs 4 freedoms: freedom of speech & freedom of worship!"
Americans will exercise their civil rights in a most civil manner, unless and until, The Won makes it difficult for us to do so, in which case we will veer into incivility and downright rude disregard of Obama's wishes! That's what we do. That's why this country is such a treasure. Never, ever underestimate the power and strength of the American people as a whole. Many have done so to their dismay! We're amiable people; don't push us beyond our own, self-imposed limits, however.
Posted by: Gayle Miller | June 23, 2009 at 03:44 PM
Obama has already managed to anger the gay community so much that they are organizing in NYC (according to my sister who lives there). If he manages to anger a few more groups who voted for him because they heard what they wanted to hear, he'll have a much more difficult time "changing" America. Let's hope he disenchants his base quickly.
Posted by: Teresa | June 23, 2009 at 06:39 PM
Maybe that's because the gay community has finally wised up to the fact that if Obama's Muslim pals gain any power in this country, their butts are on the line! Big time. The Islamofascists make it a point to kill gays.
Posted by: Gayle Miller | June 24, 2009 at 10:47 AM