Exercising Our Freedom Has Made Us Less Free
Posted on October 14, 2008 at 6:31 amTom Bevan warns Americans about putting the blame for America’s financial crisis solely on the “other” side of the table:
At its core, then, this is a story about individual freedom and individual choices. Nobody put a gun to the head of the 28 year-old University of Michigan graduate in the Detroit Free-Press story and forced him to buy a house with a $150,000 mortgage - any more than someone forced his fiancee to ring up $15,000 in credit card debt.
The most nauseating part of this debacle is that the United States government - which long ago perfected the habit of living beyond its means - was an active participant in helping some Americans shed the inhibition of fiscal prudence and embrace the notion we can afford it all - even when we know we can’t.
The true irony, of course, is that because some Americans exercised their individual freedoms irresponsibly in the last decade we’ve now all become less free, assuming you measure such things by the number of additional taxpayer dollars committed to Washington’s coffers ($700+ billion) and by unprecedented expansion of the U.S. government into what was previously considered the “private sector.”
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Briley Broadsides Bloggers: He’s In Your Blogosphere Restricting All Your Access [VIDEO]
Posted on May 20, 2008 at 2:15 pmRepresentative Rob Briley criticizes the press and bloggers cautioning that if media doesn’t act responsibly they will be denied access to information.
Rep. Briley, of course, was the subject of quite a few barrels of ink and webspace after getting clipped for DUI after a hit and run. Following his arrest, Briley gave the name of a lobbyist as his next of kin. Later, it was reported by the Nashville Scene that Briley and the lobbyist were having an affair:
“The right to a free and open press though comes with a responsibility, and from my experience over the past year, that responsibility is not being lived up to,” Briley (D-Nashville) said from the main House podium.
“We used to talk about the politics of personal destruction. Well that’s no longer what’s going on. It’s the publishing of personal destruction, and we owe it to ourselves to do better than that. We owe it to the rest of our society to do better than that.”
….Briley said that government needs to be “as open as possible.”
“But the press needs to understand that if they’re not responsible with that information, that they’re not going to have access to it anymore,” Briley said.
In addition to the mainstream press, Briley criticized bloggers, remarking that “just because you say it, doesn’t make it true.”
SEE ALSO:
Katie Allison Granju
Stacey Campfield
Nashville Scene
The AP
Bill Hobbs
Jennifer Peebles (II)
Sean Braisted
Kay Brooks
Grantham Is Talking
IRRESPONSIBLE LINKS:
Rob Briley Clipped For DUI
Casada To Briley: “Resign”
More Reaction To The Arrest Of Rep. Rob Briley
Crime Spree?
The Rob Briley DUI Video
The Agony Of Da Feet — Against The Window
Lawyer Lobbyist
Representative Rob Briley In The Wind
Representative Rob Briley Found In Tunica Casino
Mary Littleton No Longer Listed As Trial Lawyer Association’s Lobbyist (UPDATED)
Briley Pleads Guilty To DUI, Diversion For The Rest
A Briley Diverted: The Day After
Mr. Briley’s Wild Ride
A Place Of Discovery: Rob Briley’s Absence Explained
Rob Briley From The Well On Getting Well On YouTube
BREAKING: State Rep. Rob Briley Will Not Run For Re-Election
Gone Briley Gone
Briley’s Ophelia Ford Moment
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