The actual quote is:
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Liberals like to remove the words "essential" and "a little temporary."
http://blog.reidreport.com/2006/01/ben-franklin-misreader.html
2007-09-20 02:27:33 · 17 answers · asked by Philip McCrevice 7 in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
These words do change the meaning of the quote the quote. Even Franklin knew there were times when certain liberties could and should be suspended. Like at times of war. Otherwise, he would have said what Libs like to spout all the time. Never is any loss of any liberty worth any amount of security.
2007-09-20 02:36:11 · update #1
YES! Thank you! I have had them pull that little quote on me several times...or I should say misquote. Irritating, but that is how many liberals twist things in their own minds.
It shows that they don't really understand the quote and its context.
Historically, anytime the people require more security, there is going to be some loss of freedom. And folks that like to say that they would rather die than to have any loss of freedom are lieing to themselves. I don't think that the government listening in on suspected terrorist's phone conversations amounts to a huge loss of any US citizen's freedom anyway.
2007-09-20 02:32:47 · answer #1 · answered by Granny Gruntz 3 · 4⤊ 4⤋
This quote was recited many times during the Revolutionary War. History shows us that when people give up liberty, whether it is essential or not, they not only deserve neither but obtain neither. Tyrants and dictators alike tell people that it is ok to give them more power and give up their rights so they can take over. Even exaggerate, or create, circumstances they can use to get so called emergency powers. They then keep people dependent on them by keeping them living in fear by creating an internal or external threat. Once they take over, then they become the oppressors. The end result is always a tyrannical overly oppresive government. The way that Hitler came into power was a good example of this. In the end, Benjamin Franklin was right. This is the point that most people who quote Benjamin Franklin are getting at. One shouldn't have to sacrifice liberty for security the government can't even provide.
2007-09-20 04:53:55 · answer #2 · answered by j 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I'm not sure those words change the statement at all. If you believe that he is saying liberty is essential and safety is little and temporary, there is no change to the statement. It means don't sacrifice liberty for safety.
If on the other hand you are saying that one shouldn't give up "essential liberty" (as opposed to non-essential liberty) for "a little temporary safety" (as opposed to permanent safety) then the statement is clearly open to interpretation and therefore really says nothing.
I could easily argue that your liberty is not essential to me and you should be jailed for your political beliefs to ensure that you don't exercise your rights against me, providing for my permanent safety. I would thereby be giving up no essential liberty for no little temporary safety, and presumably I would deserve both the liberty and safety I retained. I don't think that is what Franklin had in mind. Or he was no libertarian.
2007-09-20 02:52:26 · answer #3 · answered by Jeremy B 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It's human nature to misquote. Remember the news story about Mr. Al Gore and his "invented the Internet" quote? During the interview, he said "created the Internet". His statement in context was true, because his spending bill ESSENTIALLY helped make the Internet what it is today. News rooms across the country picked up the story without vetting, but never apologized to Mr. Gore. When asked, the orignators of the story said that 'invented' and 'created' were really the same thing. There's conservative mind speak for you.
From my good friend, Mr. Al Fraken, I have it on good authority that conservatives not only misquote, but totally fabricate their stories. A better question is:
Why do conservatives like to fabricate stories and why does the press pick up these stories without proper vetting?
Vote for Al Franken! Seek the truth.
2007-09-20 02:48:45 · answer #4 · answered by Skeptic 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
In my experience, people who use "always" and "never" are making overly broad generalizations. Do you see any irony in the fact that you are complaining about one group of people not using qualifiers in their statements in a way that misuses qualifiers?
It is true that there are some things so close to "always" or "never" that one can be safe making the generalization, but as a rule, one should be careful about use of language when one is complaining about use of language.
(I know I'm not answering the question, and I'm unlikely to get the nod for best answer because I'm being something of a killjoy for your LibBash Party, but I can live with that. I don't think of myself as a liberal, but the Ben Franklin statement I like to misquote is "All cats are gray in the dark.")
2007-09-20 02:47:10 · answer #5 · answered by Arby 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
How about the Ben Franklin quote.
"A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over."
or this one
"Perhaps the history of the errors of mankind, all things considered, is more valuable and interesting than that of their discoveries. Truth is uniform and narrow; it constantly exists, and does not seem to require so much an active energy, as a passive aptitude of the soul in order to encounter it. But error is endlessly diversified; it has no reality, but is the pure and simple creation of the mind that invents it. In this field the soul has room enough to expand herself, to display all her boundless faculties, and all her beautiful and interesting extravagancies and absurdities. "
2007-09-20 02:31:44 · answer #6 · answered by labken1817 6 · 3⤊ 2⤋
Misquotes are very common, all you have to do is tie it to a respected figure and you think that you got the upper hand.
"The last thing she said to me, was go get em JD, and I have been going and getting em ever since." John Wayne in JD Cahill, US Marshall
2007-09-20 02:39:01 · answer #7 · answered by libsticker 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The American people do not deserve Liberty nor Safety!
2007-09-20 02:38:07 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 3⤋
And what difference do those words make? Are there such things as non-essential liberties? Can giving them up bring permanent safety?
2007-09-20 02:32:45 · answer #9 · answered by mommanuke 7 · 5⤊ 3⤋
So what? Doesn't change the basic truth. He also said;
"Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power."
The GOP and Bush flubs both eh?
*"I refuse to match wits with an unarmed man" - Unknown
2007-09-20 02:33:36 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 3⤋