Posted by
Defend America on Tuesday, February 16, 2010 7:23:20 PM
Playing Freedom Cheap
by Thomas Sowell
If eternal vigilance is the price of freedom, incessant
distractions are the way that politicians take away our freedoms, in
order to enhance their own power and longevity in office. Dire alarms
and heady crusades are among the many distractions of our attention
from the ever increasing ways that government finds to take away more
of our money and more of our freedom.
Magicians have long known that distracting an audience is the
key to creating the illusion of magic. It is also the key to political
magic.
Alarms ranging from "overpopulation" to "global warming" and
crusades ranging from "affordable housing" to "universal health care"
have been among the distractions of political magicians. But few
distractions have had such a long and impressive political track record
as getting people to resent and, if necessary, hate other people.
The most politically effective totalitarian systems have
gotten people to give up their own freedom in order to vent their
resentment or hatred at other people-- under Communism, the
capitalists; under Nazis, the Jews.
http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2010/02/16/playing_freedom_cheap