What does "Freedom isn't Free!" mean to you?

[Cascadian]

Everybodys knows that "Freedom Isn't Free!" is some catch phrase started by some righty to defend America's penchant for going to war. To me, "Freedom Isn't Free" is an paradox. Freedom is free therefore how can it be not free? It even could be a Neocon's justification for the Bushites lust for power and quest to turn this country to a totalitarian nation. They have twisted nearly every word associated with our country. Everything from "Freedom" to "Minutemen" they expolit.

What do the words "Freedom Isn't Free" mean to you, DUers?



John

[MissWaverly]

1. sacrifice by the downtrodden to fuel neocon globalism

[Jeffersons Ghost]

51. no MissWaverly, it means DONATE TO DEMOCRAT CAUSES here's a link...

https://www.democrats.org/page/contribute/peoplecount

[MissWaverly]

63. hey thanks I do all the time

:-), I just don't like donating to Halli-bacon, they have enough bucks!

[niyad]

2. that we cannot take it for granted, that we actually have to pay attention

and not just assume it is going to be there. watching the pols, etc.

[tuvor]

3. bush must think it's free.

He keeps going on about how freedom is the Almighty's gift to the world.

[salin]

4. With freedom, comes responsibility

at least in a democratic sort of system. Such as: the work to maintain freedom; the vigilance to protect encroachments on freedom; and the self-check so that one's own freedom does not impinge upon the freedom of another.

I just ignore the jingoistic rw bs and hold on to my own definition/sense of the meaning of the phrase.

[rzemanfl]

5. It's a Republican euphemism for "Go fuck yourself." n/t

[LA lady]

6. oops

I always thought it was a quote from Philip Randolph.

[flordehinojos]

7. could it mean thatfreedom is bought and paid for withthe blood of

others?

[salin]

8. and of course..."freedom's just another word for 'nothing left to lose"...

ala Me and Bobby McGee...

[Bluerthanblue]

24. & nothin ain't worth nothin if it ain't free-

If a tree falls in the forest, and there is no one there to hear it, does it still make a sound?

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Its a question whose answer varies with the person it is asked of- (imo)

[BeatleBoot]

9. Freedom Comes With a Price and that Price is Vigilence Against Bush-Wads

We cannot be truly free under Bush or his ilk.

These scum were the vermin Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, were speaking of.

Bush and the neo-cons are pussies and liars.

They exist for one reason: lining their own pockets at the expense of the U.S. Taxpayer.

Personal gain at the expense of the Republic.

[Kolesar]

10. Somebody thinks we are still fighting the Nazis.

The militarists, aka the "Curtis Lemay" set have been hyping threats ever since we sacrificed our soldiers to defeat the Nazis. The threat of the Soviets was overstated--they did not have the huge missile arsenal as JFK stated in 1960. The threat of the Sandinistas was overstated as was Saddam in 2003. It is an effective way to keep the public scared and distracted from the real problems of the US.

[TahitiNut]

11. It's only available to the wealthiest 1% who can afford it.

:shrug:

[Ilsa]

19. So that's the fine print on that bumpersticker! eom

[no_hypocrisy]

12. It's like the lyrics to a song from "Up With People":

Freedom isn't free.
Freedom isn't free.
You have to pay the price,
You have to sacrifice
For your liberty.

In other words, you have to leave your television, your computer, your comfort zone, and get involved to protect or regain your stolen freedom (sometimes taken by your fellow citizens and their government). You aren't born with inherent freedom. As a citizen, you need to get involved with local interests of your community, be aware of the votes of your legislators in the municipality, county, state, and country as you have to earn your freedom perpetually. If the last five years haven't proved this much, nothing in your lifetime will.

[iamahaingttta]

13. I thought "Freedon Isn't Free" came from...

...Team America!

Freedom Isn't Free
by Trey Parker

What would you do
If you were asked to give up your dreams for freedom
What would you do
If asked to make the ultimate sacrifice

Would you think about all them people
Who gave up everything they had.
Would you think about all them War Vets
And would you start to feel bad

Freedom isn't free
It costs folks like you and me
And if we don't all chip in
We'll never pay that bill
Freedom isn't free
No, there's a hefty fuckin' fee.
And if you don't throw in your buck 'o five
Who will?

What would you do
If someone told you to fight for freedom.
Would you answer the call
Or run away like a little pussy
'Cause the only reason that you're here.
Is 'cause folks died for you in the past
So maybe now it's your turn
To die kicking some ass

Freedom isn't free
It costs folks like you and me
And if we don't all chip in
We'll never pay that bill
Freedom isn't free
Now there's a have to hook'in fee
And if you don't throw in your buck 'o five
Who will?

You don't throw in your buck 'o five. Who will?
Oooh buck 'o five
Freedom costs a buck 'o five

[Jazzgirl]

41. No......Up With People!

[Jara sang]

14. Orwellian Doublethink

The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. ... To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies—all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth. (pages 35, 176-177)

[gollygee]

23. Abso-freaking-lutely

I think it means that in order to have a free society we have to be willing to give up the very freedoms that make us a free society. It is, in a nutshell, bullshit. And yes, very Orwellian.

[Marr]

42. Yep- that's it.

GOP marketing is full of these types of self-contradictory sales pitches. It's all very Orwellian. My favorite moment was when Bush actually said, "when we're talkin' about war, we're really talkin' about peace". INGSOC for bumpkins.

[i radical]

55. noting the rw-ers penchant for saying the opposite of the truth

then it really means freedom is free. and it is. defending it from rw assault isn't, though.

[xchrom]

15. nothing. n/t

[ThoughtCriminal]

16. Think Freedom is expensive?

Tyranny costs even more and the cash flow goes to the most evil.

We don't seem to be saving much money by giving up freedom.

[Deja Q]

17. It's $4.99 at Target, $4.79 at Walmart.

There is another expression, but I'd rather not say it. :7

[guinivere]

72. lol! Look in your Sunday paper for the $1 off coupon. nt

[Kajsa]

18. Here's one of my favorite quotes.

" Freedom is not a gift from heaven--
one must fight for it everyday"

---Simon Wiesenthal

[oneighty]

20. I attended a Korean War Veteran's

award ceremony at which the speaker reminded we veterans in every damned sentence that "FREEDOM IS NOT FREE". My school classmate Korean War Veteran (Army) is sitting there in his wheel chair taking all that freedom stuff in. I am guessing he had a pretty good idea 'bout that freedom bullshit.

I know I did as I thought about all those that did not return.

'Freedom is not free' is the official cry of the chickenhawk.

180

[Sarah Ibarruri]

21. It's a Republican quote which goes along with, "Kill for freedom" nt

[existentialist]

22. "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."

That, as someone else recently and correctly pointed out here on DU, is the statement the founders accepted as the best single statement of the price of freedom.

Yes, that may, on occasion, require other sacrifices, including sometimes blood. But if you're not vigilant, then it is fair to say you might be considered a sheep, and have already lost your freedom because you buy into some idiot's rhetoric.

[leftchick]

25. the same as "power of pride" and other nonsensical BS

Nothing except the person spouting it has no clue about war and empire.

[cynatnite]

26. It's a bumper sticker slogan....

that sounds good.

But I really don't understand it in the context of invading an occupying Iraq. That war has no bearing on my so-called freedoms.

[HB1]

27. How your freedom affects others

To me, it means tempering your freedom of thought and action, so it does not impinge on another's freedom of thought and action.

[newyawker99]

53. Hi HB1!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[HB1]

76. Thank you

Happy to be here!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

28. About the same as, "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer!"

Simple slogans for simpletons.

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[alcibiades_mystery]

32. Oh, that's clear enough

One doesn't need advanced training in hermeneutics to come up with that. What's utterly puzzling, and ultimately nonsensical, is applying this dictum to the Iraq debacle.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

34. It's a right wing trick to get the populace all excited about dying so the

American rich can own a piece of someone else. In this case, the piece is Iraq.

[alcibiades_mystery]

30. It's complete bullshit

A slogan for imbeciles, who also say stupid things like "freedom is on the march" and other idiocies. Nobody who utters such laughable nonsenses can be taken seriously.

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[alcibiades_mystery]

35. That it's a slogan?

It is circulated relentlessly on right wing radio and uttered wiuthout thinking to nearly any challenge to Bush the Minor's military adventurism. It barely has a meaning. Rather, it has a function. People who are thinking people avoid using such silly cliches, even if they are in agreement with what used to be the meaning (before it became an empty slogan). Thinking people would express the thought differently, knowing that merely uttering the thoughtless slogan would surely paint them an imbecile as well.

[Binka]

59. Pasty Fat White Male Code For "Please Please Please Suck My Dick"

Really please suck it. Or please sniff it it's been years. Insert snatch for dick when somebody like Libby Dole says it. Oh and remember you can NOT use this phrase unless you are WHITE! No coloreds talking in cliches thank you.

[Mr_Spock]

48. Total agreement

You've got it pegged - it's for lazy morons who didn't sign up but want to feel like they did.

[ContraBass Black]

33. It means that we need to pay by fighting tooth and nail

Against ignorance, illiteracy, greed, dishonesty, thievery, murder, and government excess


To prevent it from being repossessed.

[pitohui]

36. it means some nazi is babbling on

have you ever heard a sane person spout that "freedom isn't free?"

what is the point to a freedom that isn't free? really? if it's coerced, hey, it ain't freedom, now is it

[noahmijo]

37. I know freedom isn't free I'm reminded of that everytime I encounter

freedom hating Republican sheep who donate ZERO of sacrifice for what little freedoms we have left here in The United States of Jesus

[manic expression]

38. Nothing good

FREEdom is free, because if it wasn't free, it couldn't be FREEdom by definition. People who like to repeat that statement have never stopped to think about the idiocy which comes out of their mouths.

As another poster mentioned, however, it represents the screwing of the people for the rich and unjustified invasions.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

39. I Do Not Think That Phrase Means What Some People Think It Means

Although I know that it is used in the aforementioned context to try to stifle anti-Iraq war protesters, I believe that it is really more about the idea that each and every citizen is responsible for ensuring that our leaders respect and uphold the Constitution and the laws of our land and to hold them accountable when they fail to do so. There is NOTHING about the Iraq war or really even the so-called "War on Terror" that has ANYTHING to do with "protecting" our freedoms. In fact, if anything, our country seems to be getting a lot less "free" with eachm passing day BECAUSE of both of these "wars" and the worst part is most people are more or less allowing, if not enabling this to happen because of blind loyalty to their political party over the Constitution and laws of our land or don't care enough to get involved with the electoral process or even pick up a newspaper most of the time. No, "Freedom is NOT free" but fighting for our freedom has nothing to do with "phantom" enemies and false patriotism.

[Jazzgirl]

40. All it means to me is...

an Up With People catchphrase. Doesn't mean anything else!

[The Gunslinger]

43. I think it means

That this administration wants everybody to give up their freedoms in order to pay the price for freedom.

[U4ikLefty]

It's the new Rethuglican pricing structure...freedom = $100,000 per plate

If you can't pay...don't even TRY to play!!!

[burythehatchet]

44. a more meaningful quote

Freedom's just another word for nothin left to lose.

[SmokingJacket]

45. Just a snappy saying designed to cut off discussion.

It doesn't say what freedom is, why it might be valuable, what kind of sacrifices we might want to make for it, what kind we DON'T want to make, etc.

It also doesn't address why and how killing innocent Iraqis affects OUR freedom.

I prefer: Freedom is sometimes worth fighting for -- but fighting doesn't always guarantee freedom. Not as snappy, but much more correct.

[Radical Activist]

46. This is what it means

[Radical Activist]

47. People outside the military protect freedom.

This is what it means.

[Radical Activist]

49. More freedom fighters right here

The military doesn't make us free. People who stand up for freedom at home do.

[cigsandcoffee]

50. It means that many people have died...

...to insure our freedoms. There has been much sacrifice in our short history.

[tjwash]

52. It means some dickhead is ready to send some other peoples...

...kids out to die in some god-forsaken war zone so that we can steal their resources.

[guinivere]

71. Yup. And you can rest assured that the dickhead's kids

won't be going off to fight for the dickhead's freedom.

The ones that howl "freedom isn't free" the loudest are usually the ones that should be out in East Bumblefuck fighting.

[Greybnk48]

54. For the right it's synonymous with "War is Peace"

twisted logic used to confuse the masses. For me it means that we can no longer sit back and trust our Govt to do what's in our best interests. We have to get involved and fight the neocons and their sympathizers every step of the way (those that are taking our freedoms).

[Rocknrule]

58. You hit the nail right on the head

[bunkerbuster1]

56. "I don't understand American history. I am stupid and gullible."

[Rocknrule]

57. "We can't be free unless we kill brown people and submit to *'s will"

[The Stranger]

60. It's a lie. Read your Enlightenment Thinkers.

Of course freedom is free. It is an inalienable right of every person. No cost can be placed upon it by anyone, most importantly in particular, no cost can ever be placed upon it by a government.

Government cannot bestow freedom, only take it away.

[Nevernose]

61. It's been 150 years since we fought to defend our own freedom

141 years, to be a little more precise. We could discuss the relative validity of wars since then, but ultimately we haven't had to defend our freedom since the Civil War, and even that one wasn't as clear-cut as people like to think.

The War of 1812?
The Revolutionary War?

[Spinoza]

62. I read

somewhere that the phrase "freedom isn't free" actually goes back to the fight against the Barbary pirates (in which the U.S. navy and marine corp originated) with the famous argument by Thomas Jefferson: "Millions for defense; not one penny for tribute".

[leftofthedial]

64. just another poor boy

off to fight a rich man's war


as Steve Earle said

[Beelzebud]

65. To me it says: Close your mind, and shut your mouth!

[devilgrrl]

66. It means an obnoxious rightwing talking point...

and that's about it.

[Rosemary2205]

67. I spent 6 hrs in sleet to vote in 2004.

I went prepared. Warm clothes, double socks, and an umbrella. Woke up next day with a horrible cold, which turned into pneumonia the following week. I missed a week of work and spent $120 on medical care (yes I do have pretty good insurance).

I paid a price for demanding a chance a vote but others there had it worse. When the weather got REALLY NASTY they came down the line looking for elderly and disabled and let us go right in while the others had to remain in the cold sleet. Some of the them waited 12 hours. Some of them lost a day's wages. Some of them got sick too and lost more days.

And appearantly they all did that to vote for "stay the course" although every single person in line I talked to was there determined to vote for Kerry.

[proud patriot]

68. If freedom isn't free , then why do pukes complain about taxes ?

[jberryhill]

69. Amen

[Asgaya Dihi]

70. I doubt the right wingers invented the phrase

I can't find anything with a quick web search on where the phrase came from but it makes too much sense to have come from any neocon. It doesn't mean what they say it does though.

The nation fell asleep over recent decades, we forgot we had to care and now we're paying for it. That's what the phrase means. It doesn't have to mean battle though sometimes it has, it also means the womens rights movement, the civil rights movement, and about every other inch of progress this or any other nation has ever made. Nobody offered it, people demanded it in the first place and stayed awake to keep it or they lost it again.

That's what it means to me.

[iconoclastNYC]

73. 300 Billion spent on Iraq War is what it means to me

Of course it's worth it becuase we are so much more free now right, and because Saddam had WMDs, ties to al qaeda, and was an imminent threat, right?

:sarcasm:

Oh and don't forget 2500 dead soliders, 100k dead Iraqis, our reputation destroyed, and gas at 3.00/gallon.

[unschooler]

74. It means we all need to send a buck to the ACLU.

Nothing to do with all of the militaristic rightwing crap you here in too many country-western songs.

[LWolf]

75. It means that we are, in the speakers opinion,

obligated to sacrifice life, health, and financial prosperity to keep corporate america free to rape the world.

[Zorra]

77. Jefferson said

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."

And that is what "Freedom Isn't Free" means to me.

[BringEmOn]

78. Freepturds fighting to the last drop of someone else's blood.

[kiahzero]

79. Freedom as in speech isn't free as in beer.

It's not a justification for anything, but it is an important concept to remember. Liberty is not something to be taken for granted - it should be cherished, and never let go without a fight.