"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

                                                            ~  Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
 
 

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."
 

                                                            ~ Declaration of Independence as originally written by Thomas Jefferson, 1776.
 
 

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."

                                                                                    ~  Thomas Jefferson to Archibald Stuart, 1791
 
 

"We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home."

                                                                                      ~Edward R. Murrow
 

"To those who pit Americans against immigrants and citizens against noncitizens, to those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists, for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve. They give ammunition to America's enemies, and pause to America's friends,"
 

                                                            ~ Attorney General John Ashcroft, Senate Testimony, December 6, 2001
 
 

"You're free. And freedom is beautiful. And, you know, it'll take time to restore chaos and order - order out of chaos. But we will."

                                                            ~  President George W. Bush Washington, D.C., April 13, 2003
 
 

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