by Jason Pappas

SOLO HQ

04/05/05

During the 20th century, as we faced the ravages of totalitarianism -- wars, concentration camps, enslavement and death on a vast scale -- we re-examined the principles and practices that kept our country from a similar fate. For many, this led to a reaffirmation of the tradition of individual rights. The concept of individual liberty, born in the soil of Hellenic rationalism and Roman law, reached its maturation in the rigorous and clear exposition of the Anglo-American Enlightenment -- and climaxed with the founding of the United States of America. We, or at least many of our fellow citizens, came to appreciate these principles at work in stable civilized countries, primarily English speaking, where reason and rhetoric were the main tools of social discourse; and we saw the diametrically opposite principles leading vast parts of the world down 'the road to serfdom' where coercion led to an impoverished existence on every level...

http://tinyurl.com/3wx48


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp