Great Words from Donald Rumsfield

From The Corner:
Rummy on Freedom by Andy McCarthy
Former Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld made remarks at a Pentagon ceremony today unveiling his portrait. Here is some of what he said:

Some might ask how our country has endured? Well, it should be no mystery. It is because we are a free people, blessed with a free political and a free economic system – Where we are: free to think and act; to believe and protest; to vote and petition; and, yes free to succeed, to fail, and to start again.

The night satellite image of the Korean Peninsula, my favorite as many of you know well, captured many miles above the earth, tells the whole story. Below the 38th parallel, South Korea is bathed in the light of dozens of cities, monuments to that nation’s freedom. In one of the most successful economies in the world, millions of South Koreans go about their work, creating opportunity and prosperity for themselves and their families. North of the DMZ is darkness. There live exactly the same people, with the same natural resources. But those millions of Koreans labor not for themselves or their families, but for a regime that enslaves them.

The stark difference between the free and the unfree is illuminated in that picture. The boundless energy of human beings is most assuredly not unleashed by governments of boundless power. That energy is unleashed only by free political institutions and free economic systems.

But because we are free, as a people, we face choices:

We can choose to engage with the world, strengthening alliances with our friends, expanding trade agreements, deterring potential foes, and taking the fight to them when necessary. Or we can retreat, or make the truly tragic mistake of modeling our country after systems that are obviously unsuccessful. If we choose the latter path, let there be no doubt, we are certain to fail the generations to follow.

On September 12, 2001, hard hats unfurled an American flag over the still burning and deeply scarred Pentagon. Joyce and I wanted to include that scene in this portrait because those traits of resilience and perseverance – while remarkable – are not uncommon for the men and women of this Department. They are what built and sustained this country. And they are what I saw every day in the men and women I served alongside in the months and years after the worst terrorist attack in our nation’s history.

To each of those who serve – military and civilian – or have served, and to your families, there will come a time when the achievements you’ve made, and the trials you’ve endured, will recede into history. But although time will pass, and memories fade, certain important things will remain always – your pride of service and the appreciation of a grateful nation.

This country – which has treated me so well, and which offers so much opportunity for us all – exists and prospers because the members of the United States armed forces, have stepped forward and volunteered to protect it. In a very real sense, America is their gift to the future.

Frank Meile in the Daily Inter Lake (Montana) via Lucianne:

Just who do they think they own?

I have for some time been looking for a model to describe the relationship that currently exists between the people and the federal government. At different times, I have labeled it as feudalism, serfdom or slavery.

None of them is quite right, and yet they all hint at the problem — the American people, who ostensibly still pride themselves on freedom have long since been co-opted as nothing more than a labor force by their masters in Washington.

This is a fact known to one and all, but for some reason, of late it has been treated like a crazy uncle — the less said about it the better. But that was not always true. President Reagan often warned against letting the government control too much of your life. In his farewell address to the nation in 1989, he said this:

“I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.”

You will want to read all of this.

The President should listen to Biden when he talks like this

I wonder if he truly meant it.  We do need light, we need transparency.  Somehow I don't think its ever going to happen. This is from the liberal Talking Point Memo.

Biden: 'That's The American People, Man. We've Gotta Give Them Light'

Vice President Biden spoke at a DNC fundraiser in Texas today. From the pool report:

He told another story about a quarry swimming hole where as a boy he used to go diving from nearly 100 feet up a rock wall.

"The frightening part was you go down really far, I mean literally really far. So deep it's totally black. Your chest constricts, you panic and you don't know whether you're swimming down or up."

Does he really realize how far down we are right now, and does he know we feel like we don't know what is coming next, where we are going?  He goes on:

"But when you get about 12 to 14 feet from the top you see light and everything is OK. You're still 12 feet underwater, but it's OK. You see light."

"That's the American people, man. We've gotta give them light," VPOTUS said, strolling away from the podium, into the audience, and pointing with both hands toward a sun-lit skylight above the center of the room.

Does he know the light is the light of freedom? Well, I hope one day we all see that light of freedom again, but for now it looks very, very dim to me.

Newsbusters says John Laughlin Thinks Freedom is Overrated

He did say that but when you read the whole thing the meaning becomes clearer and I am not sure I don't agree with him. This is what he actually said, 

"The most overrated is freedom," McLaughlin said. "When faced with economic uncertainty, people don't want freedom. When they can't see their economic future, they want the nanny state."

From what I have heard from a lot of callers on C-Span we have a lot of those people in our country. So many, in fact, they elected a man who promised them the nanny state.
The good news is they have now realized the nanny state leads to socialism or fascism and they DO NOT want that. That's why the Democrats are going after the bearer of the bad news, Rasmussen Reports and his polls.