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Is Life So Dear?
By Robert E. Freer, Jr., President of The Free Enterprise Foundation
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of
chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course
others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775
Paul Revere was but an unknown silversmith, Lexington and Concord were
still four weeks away when Patrick Henry rose in St John's Church,
Richmond to address his fellow Burgesses with a few remarks. The speech
was less than 500 words, took less than seven minutes to give and
electrified the continent with but seven words at its end: "Give Me
liberty or Give me death!" That call was to sweep through the colonies
and spark a revolution. It became the battle cry of a citizenry that had
absorbed too much abuse from its distant master in London and wasn't
going to take it anymore.
More than two and quarter centuries later we sit here contemplating what
has been wrought by those called to the cause of liberty by Henry's
fighting words. We are the mightiest and freest country in the world. It
is unlikely that any of our founders could even contemplate the wealth
and strength that has been accomplished by their little experiment. It
is also no accident that "Mightiest and Freest" together characterize
this land we call our home. We could not be the one without being the
other.
We wonder about what awaits us beyond that bend we see ahead? Frankly,
as a nation we are divided. I see a rough road beyond that bend. Some of
us seem to believe that it is possible to spend money we do not have and
cannot obtain unless we continue to borrow at what will soon become
ruinous rates, or we resolve to take it by force from the productive
parts of our society.
We can no longer spend like there is no tomorrow. Our international
lenders will not permit it. The bill is due and cannot be passed to the
next generation. We have but two choices to preserve our liberty. We
must either do as Thomas Jefferson instructed is our duty to pay this
generation's debts ourselves, or sink beneath the wave of indebtedness
and the shackles of foreign control of our lives.
As for me I stand with those who would begin immediately to put our
house in order. To do otherwise would betray the sacrifice of all those
generations that came before and made us the shining city that announces
to the world the blessings of freedom and liberty.
_._
Copyright © 2011 by Robert E. Freer, Jr. All rights reserved
About the author:
Robert E. Freer, Jr., after an extensive career in government law and
business, serves as the first BB&T Visiting Professor in Ethics and Free
Enterprise Leadership at The Citadel. Prof. Freer may be reached at
Robert.freer@citadel.edu..
The opinions he expresses are solely his own.
This article may be republished
unedited in its entirety provided that copyright statement and author
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provided by the author remain active.
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