"If Men Are To Wait For Liberty Till They Become Wise And Good In Slavery, They May Indeed Wait For Ever."
I have been lacking in my philosophical / voluntaryist content on my Steemit blog as I have been mainly posting about my recent trip to Asia and all the cool sights we saw.
I recently came upon this quote by Thomas Babington Macaulay that I thought was quite powerful:
The full quote:
"Many politicians of our time are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition, that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story who resolved not to go into the water till he had learnt to swim. If men are to wait for liberty till they become wise and good in slavery, they may indeed wait for ever."
Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859)
"Milton" - Edinburgh Review - 1835
Sir Thomas James Babington Macaulay, Baron of Rothley was actually a british historian and Whig politician in the 1800's. He was by no means a voluntaryist. Macaulay held statist positions (political office) in Britain as the Secretary at War (1839-1841), and as the Paymaster-General (1846-1848).
However, Macaulay was an abolitionist and fought to end slavery in the British Empire. I can respect that and I think his quote is relevant to this day.
Hi there, I’m Will. First and foremost I am an entrepreneur and voluntaryist. I aspire to help build a more free world, one that we all want to live in. Some of my biggest passions include cryptocurrencies, marketing, finance, cannabis, traveling, bodybuilding, snowboarding, motorcycles, and Subarus. All pictures are my own, taken with a GS7 Edge or GoPro Hero 4. I release everything under CC0 unless otherwise stated.
My website: williamjohnsonlong.com
My Previous Post 👉 Making Use Of A Beautiful Day - Taking Kayaks Out On The Lake
Interesting post. The quote makes me think of "You can't vote your way to freedom."
Steem on! @rvanstel
Thanks!
Interesting write up to support a quote that I think probably is still relevant today
Most definitely relevant, I would agree. I share many of your passions, looking forward to your future posts.
The meme makes since until you are at the water's edge and have to leap. Sense says do not kill yourself, but desire says do what is necessary to survive in the world you are in. It really is "are you willing to die for what you believe in?" Most people can't answer that because they have been trained to be complacent in a system that mistreats them by way of their liberties. Can we unteach complacency? Can people of our times truly be happy without it? Our fairy tales (Disney mainly) dictate we must all strive for "happily ever after" or we have failed at life. Fairy tales and fables were originally to teach us about life's dangers and the fact that life could be unfair; so live your life and think for yourself. We don't have that anymore.