Liberty and Tyranny

WE CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS

"WE ALL DECLARE FOR LIBERTY; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others, the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name----liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names----liberty and tyranny."

-----Abraham Lincoln, 1864

This quote is on the back cover of Mark Levine's stunning new book, Liberty and Tyranny, A Conservative Manifesto which I'll be blogging about this week. A review can be read today at Big Hollywood, written by Orson Bean. It's entitled, Mark Levine: The Thomas Paine of Our Time. Thomas Paine you will recall was the American revolutionary pamphleteer who wrote, Common Sense in 1776.