What is the meaning of the quote "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance," by Thomas Jefferson?
Posted on September 29th, 2009 by admin
Also how is a society threatened or maintained by "vigilance." I have to use a good book with literary merit. One that I would like to use is Anne Frank. So how is her freedom or the freedom of Jews threatened or maintained by vigilance
i think the jews have been vigilant in the cause for freedom, they did survive the holicaust, they were almost wiped out by the nazi’s
September 29th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
i think the jews have been vigilant in the cause for freedom, they did survive the holicaust, they were almost wiped out by the nazi’s
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September 29th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
The price for freedom will always be fought for.
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September 30th, 2009 at 12:13 am
Stay on your toes or you will lose your freedom. You cannot let down your guard.
Vigilance can get out of hand. Look at the McCarthy era, hunting down and black-listing suspected communists. But appropriate vigilance can prevent or detect acts of terrorism.
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September 30th, 2009 at 12:59 am
It suggests that freedom itself will inspire others to seek to take advantage of you, and that you cannot become lax in a free society. For Jefferson, a "free" society cannot afford libertines who just do whatever they want when they want, without a sense of duty to society as a whole.
There is an undercurrent of paranoia in this expression that ought to strike fear into people. It’s as if the speaker is preparing himself for another witchhunt…as if there’s an enemy out there SOMEWHERE, and he just has to find it.
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September 30th, 2009 at 1:48 am
A free people must be vigilant that their freedom is not eroded or taken over by individuals or other societies that want power. Freedom is kind of a balancing act, because in a free society, everyone is allowed the freedom to pursue what they desire up to the point where they are infringing on someone else’s freedom. Among us are people who want power above all else, and it is up to the rest of us to ensure that our own freedom is not impinged by those people’s quest for power.
America is a society that right now threatened and maintained by vigilance — our government is trying to be vigilant against terrorists, but may be going too far in stepping on the freedoms that we as citizens have become accustomed to. And people who protest over-broad government surveillance (wire-tapping, etc.) are being vigilant to maintain our freedoms but if they succeed TOO much in rolling back government prying, then they may be threatening our lives and freedoms by exposing us to external attacks.
For Anne Frank, she was a victim of the world’s lack of vigilance in protecting the freedom and lives of Jews from the Nazis. As the Nazis controlled more and more territory and people, the rest of the world began to realize that everyone else’s freedom was at stake, too, but not before millions of people had been killed. For her more personally, it seems that her family was vigilant in watching what was happening to the freedom of Jews where they were and in realizing they had to hide to protect themselves. Unfortunately, they were discovered, so that vigilance wasn’t enough, although it allowed time for a young girl to write such an important literary work. On the other side of the coin, I suppose you could talk about how the "vigilance" of Nazi-sympathizers who believed they were protecting themselves (and their own freedom) by turning over their Jewish neighbors to the Nazis and turning a blind eye to their fate, was itself a huge threat to freedom writ large. Their lack of concern for the freedom of ALL as opposed to their own freedom was a major reason that the holocaust happened.
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