Thanks for posting that. I'm going to repost.

Wow. Just....


wow.

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...

I couldn't help but tear up reading that.

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I'm not trying to make a big deal about this, and I actually had no idea who this guy is before your post. But this assertion:

"Oh and I don't want to die for you, but if dying's asked of me;
I'll bear that cross with honor, 'cause freedom don't come free."
American Soldier, Toby Keith

Makes me so mad I want to spit. Because it's wrong. And *that's* why he's dead right now.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." -- Declaration of Independence

"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." -- Gettysburg Address

"The God who gave us Life gave us Liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy but cannot disjoin them." --- Thomas Jefferson



He did not die for anyone's freedom. Freedom is free.

Edited at 2008-01-05 01:15 pm (UTC)

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So if the settlers in America just sat there and let the British rule, they'd someone have become free from the tyranny of the British, without doing anything?

Their freedom didn't come free, there was a revolution.

Just like a wife who is being beaten and abused, if she just stays in the marriage and doesn't fight (via physically or with an attorney) will she just some day magically become free from the abusive husband? Don't think so.

You can say "I don't think he died serving in Iraq for anyone's freedom" and that's an opinion (even though being under a dictatorship is far from freedom). But you can't make the broad generalization that "freedom is free"

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The idea that Freedom is free is the foundation upon which all American Democracy rests. If you don't understand that then you do not understand what it means to be an American; indeed, to be a rational human being in general.

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Article 1.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.


No soldier in Iraq is dieing for anyone's freedom. Indeed, quite on the contrary, they are taking freedom away from the inhabitants of Iraq by doing the ONE thing that can deny a person's inherent freedom. They are contributing to the slaughter of innocent people.

Edited at 2008-01-05 09:32 pm (UTC)

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You may be *born* free and equal, but those rights are taken away by brutal dictators, abusive family members and employers, etc. Just because one is born free doesn't mean they have the choice to stay free.

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If people don't have the choice to stay free then your entire argument collapses. Furthermore, fighting for the maintainment of freedom if a philosophically distinct concept from the idea that we owe are freedom to our soldiers. We owe our freedom to god. Finally, if freedom is so fragile that blood must be spilled in order to maintain it, then you are arguing that if all democracies were to be replaced by brutal fascist dictators overnight, then freedom will die and never be heard from again. If you seriously think that then you need to rethink your principles.

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perhaps you should go live in a country run by fascists and then report back :), oh wait you probably wouldn't have the freedom to blog about the fact that their government sucks under their rule :-/ bummer...

and the whole 'we owe our freedom to god' -- why bring someone(thing) into this that may or may not exist? Isn't faith in god a bit less tangible than faith in democracy?

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So you've failed US History Until 1877, US Government, and now more advanced courses like Philosophy for not realizing what the Philosopher's God is. LOL!

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i've studied philosophy and theology and many history courses --- Just because I didn't automatically assume you were a student of philosophy does not mean i've FAILED courses...

I don't really have to have an intellectual penis-measuring contest, i'm above that... sounds like you might be a bit insecure and use your intellect to feel more important and significant. It's ok, everyone has their angle I guess.

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