The American pioneers phrased this clearly and bluntly.
They said, "Root, hog, or die."
There can be no third alternative for the shoat let
out of the pen, to go where he pleases and do what he likes.
Individual liberty is individual responsibility.
Whoever makes decisions is responsible for results.
When common men were slaves and serfs, they obeyed
and they were fed. Free men paid for their freedom
by leaving that security.
The question is whether personal freedom is worth
the terrible effort, the never-lifted burden, and the risks,
the unavoidable risks, of self-reliance.
Pioneers
N.C. Wyeth
(1939)
For each of us, the answer to that question is a personal one.
But the final answer can not be personal, for individual liberty
can not long exist except among multitudes of individuals
who choose it and are willing to pay for it.
Multitudes of human beings will not do this unless their
freedom is worth more than it costs, not only in value to their souls
but also in terms of the general welfare and the future of their country,
which means the welfare and future of their children.
The test of the worth of personal freedom, then, can only be
its practical results in a country whose institutions and way of life
and of thought have grown from individualism.
The only such country is the United States of America.
Rose Wilder Lane
(1886-1968)
American Writer
Excerpts from the book,
"Give Me Liberty"
(1936)
By Rose Wilder Lane
Daughter of "Little House" author
Laura Ingalls Wilder
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