As regular readers know, we all seem to have been thinking recently about the cost of liberty and the human ambivalence about freedom. See, for a few examples:
Freedom? No thanks, and a word about Erich Fromm
Is Liberty Obsolete?
Of mice and men: Dems want the US to be like Denmark
Live Free or Die. How come Liberals never talk about Liberty?
Individual liberty erodes, one little trans-fat molecule at a time
The dignity trap of "positive liberty"
Liberty
"Freedom to" vs. "freedom from," the duties of citizenship, plus Dostoevsky
Shrinks, Thoreau, Pencils and Freedom
A few Sundays ago our preacher spoke provocatively about the cost of Grace. We want to think of Grace as being, by definition, a freebie. My pastor says not. Roger Kimball recently discusses the cost of freedom. Perfect.
Freedom and liberty are costly in money, lives, bruises, setbacks, and effort. And freedom is messy, too. All valuable things are costly, like relationships with man or God. Over time, the Left has actually managed to find a way to permit people's consciences to allow them to accept things and money from their neighbors which are not willingly given. Old-fashioned American dignity would not permit that.
In the end, the issue is whether we, as citizens, want to pay the price, or whether we want somebody else to pay for it like the old bowl of lentils. There is no free lentil lunch.
The infant in all of us wants everything good to be free to us, like mother's milk. If adults want to live in freedom, they need to get beyond that, because liberty is not for babies. Good things are costly.
Related: Popular Dictators at Econlog, and The Allure of Tyranny by Stephens at Opinion Journal.
