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In reply to the discussion: Sarah Palin Open to Creating New 'Freedom Party' if GOP Continues to 'Neglect Conservatives' [View all]sofa king
(10,857 posts)To the lover of history, "freedom" has a very different meaning than the one projected by the people who use it.
For example, the Spartans were a military oligarchy that enslaved eighty percent of the people who lived within their territory. They were always on the opposite side of whatever the democracy of Athens was doing, and eventually teamed up with their historical enemies, the Persians, to defeat Athens. The Persians, of course, were the same Persians who killed King Leonidas and his Spartiate holplitai guard at Thermopylae pass, but Spartan leadership did not care about that so long as victory--for the vanishingly small leadership class of Sparta--was assured.
And what was the Spartan slogan for all of those years? "Freedom for the Greeks," of course.
American "freedom," in Republican parlance, is exactly as real as the "freedom" for which the Spartans fought, which is to say that it is not real at all except as a tool for separating more Americans from their lives and their property.
So yeah, Sarah Palin, you're really on to something there.