Part of the reason that the government's fear mongering is succeeding is because so many people are so ignorant, that it is easier for government to frighten people in submission.

Freedom is whatever the president says it is, pending revision.

It is one of the great tragedies of the US, that most learn most of what they know about the government from the government.

Today's citizen is obliged to find his freedom only in the narrow ruts pre-approved by his bureaucratic overlords. "Risk-free liberty" is the ideal of the Welfare State: citizens are permitted only liberties which have been declawed, defanged, neutered, certified and wrapped in benevolent restrictions.

It is absurd to expect governments to descend gradually, step-by-step into barbarism - as if there was a train schedule to political hell and people could get off at any stop along the way.

Once freedom is equated with a certain material standard of living, confiscation becomes the path to liberation.

The key question for many voters is: How much is the candidate offering for my vote?