Special Report
The Promise of Freedom
Sharing in Angela Merkel's surprise.
(Page 3 of 3)
Yet increasingly people in even these countries are coming to expect freedom. Increased personal autonomy is the norm in China. Cubans hoping for liberation expectantly await dictator Fidel Castro’s death. Planes to Laos are filled with tourists. North Koreans increasingly risk arrest and death to flee their supposed paradise.
The desire for freedom runs deep in all people. But those who lack liberty usually most appreciate it.
Like German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She didn’t expect freedom, but said that “once you’ve had such a wonderful surprise in your life, then you think anything is possible.”
Americans long ago stopped being surprised by liberty. But the fact that so many others have died while attempting to be free provides us with a lesson that we should never forget.
Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute.
About the Author
Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. A former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is the author and editor of several books, including The Politics of Plunder: Misgovernment in Washington (Transaction).
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