| Liberty and Tyranny according to Lincoln |
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"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."
Source: The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume VII, "Address at Sanitary Fair, Baltimore, Maryland" (April 18, 1864), p. 301-302.
OK, so why am I sharing a quote from Abraham Lincoln? The reason is because I believe in order for Americans have intelligent opinions that they will make decisions from, we need to understand history and see the parallels between then and now.
In this quote, clearly Abraham Lincoln was speaking about slavery. Anti-slavery people believed liberty meant for each man(white/black/other)to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his (white/black/other) labor; while for pro-slavery people, liberty meant for some men(slave owners/white) to do as they please with other men(slaves/black), and the product of other men's(slave/black) labor.
Right now I find this quote applicable to our current situation, but instead of free vs slavery, the current situation is people vs politicians.
This is the way I see it.
Americans like me believe liberty means for each man(poor/middle class/rich)to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his(poor/middle class/rich) labor; while Americans like President Obama, liberty means for some men(politicians in power)to do as they please with other men(poor/middle class/rich), and the product of other men's(poor/middle class/rich) labor.
I'm sure pro-slavery people didn't like Lincoln wording the situation as he did. Instead I'm sure it was so much easier for them to point to other things like the benefits and necessity of their actions. In the same way people who continue to support further government control of people and their property, by politicians, do not like the wording of what it actually is and rather prefer to focus on the benefits and necessity of their opinions/actions. Just read Obama's teleprompter or listen to him reading it to find out what I'm talking about.
This is my interpretation of this quote as to how it applies to our current situation. Am I all or partly wrong? What do you think? |
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| iPhone can't multitask? |
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I'd have to say I was pretty down on my new Omnia touchscreen phone when I first purchased it. I had really been thinking iPhone seemed like a much better phone because of ease of use and all the applications. Granted I purchased the phone when it was first released and very little development had been done for it.
Anyway, lately I've really been enjoying the phone and all the capabilities it does. Because of it's large memory drive it has even replaced my ipod as my music player.
Still I've been thinking iPhone would be a better choice.... until I just found out it only can handle one application at a time! That just would not work for me. With my phone I can be listening to music, while my email, web, photos, & google maps are open. I can then switch from one program to another just like you can in windows.
For me this combined with exchanger server sync makes using windows mobile a must.
Of course I'd still recommend iPhone to anyone who is not tech savy and just wants to keep things simple and care free...except when your switching back and forth between programs:) |
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| Change of topic: Mac vs PC |
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Is it just me or do I tend to pick hotly contested topics?....anyway
The Answer: It depends.
If your an artsy fartsy person who doesn't own tons of windows applications, get a mac...you will love it and feel/act like a superior being.
If your anyone else, get a PC.
Reason being, the world runs on Windows = more money in windows =
more developers = more applications = more hardware = more competition = too much hardware and software options ha
This is actually why the iphone has been so successful. Success breeds success and they have got more apps more quickly than any other phone operating system on the market.
BUT things are changing!
Which type of computer/phone you buy is becoming irrelevant as the internet continues to provide more and more software like applications/widgets that run in any web browser on any operating system.
How long will it be until the operating system we all use will be a web browser with offline functionality?
Anyway, I'm not sure it really matters anymore as we are all have computers and have already made our choices. |
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