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Is Life So Dear?Click here to Watch Dr Freer 's video about "Is Life So Dear?" 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. Click here to Watch Dr Freer 's video about "Is Life So Dear?" This article may be republished unedited in its entirety provided that copyright statement and author by-lines are kept intact and unchanged and hyperlinks and/or URLs provided by the author remain active. If you’d like to contribute an article to this collection please e-mail it for review . |
