Do you really want to trade your freedom for security?

Oregon Muse: "Freedom and security are inverse quantities. The more you have of one, the less you must necessarily have of the other. Freedom is dangerous. Freedom can get you hurt. Freedom can mean failure and bankruptcy and hard times. But if you trade your freedom for security, how can you be secure against those whom you have given it to?"

If you have grown up with Obama as your president are you fabulously secure and optimistic?

Ann Althouse looks at that question today.

Flushing our global position, and security, down a left-wing toilet

On this fifteenth anniversary of 9-11, Glenn Reynolds writes at Instapundit,

One thing I guess I didn’t believe 15 years ago is that America would elect such a feckless President in 2008, and stand idly by while he flushed our global position, and security, down a left-wing toilet. But we did, and we’ll be paying the price for a long time.

God bless America. We need it.

Read more here.

Who would be best to lead America in a time of global crisis?

At PJ Media Richard Fernandez asks what kind of leader will the United States need in February 2017. He presumes that it will be a time of global crisis in terms of security and probably also economic.

The requirements of a crisis leader turn out to be surprisingly different from those best suited to times of peace.

...For the sake of discussion, let me suggest that only four things matter in selecting a man to face a challenge whose present dimensions cannot be predicted. For purposes of debate, let these four qualities in descending order of importance be:

An ability to face the facts, however unpleasant they may be. The most important quality of the next president should be a lack of self-deception and a willingness to see things as they truly are, even if he or his ideology wish them to be otherwise. This is so important that it trumps the next item.

...An unswerving patriotism. This is not the same as a sincere feeling of love or empathy for America, though that is good. In this context it means the willingness to share the fate of the principals of which he is an agent.

...Nerve. This is the quality of grace under pressure who no one, unless he has the misfortune to be tested, can be sure he possesses.

...Intelligence. This is important, because it determines basic competence. But it surprisingly the least important attribute in this list. Intelligence, though rare, is not nearly as hard to find as the 3 characteristics above. You can find staffers who can give you intelligent advice. You cannot find staff to give you a character that you do not possess.

Once the presidential hopefuls are examined through the prism of who can be "chief of men, through a cloud" they will look surprisingly different. Try to imagine Bernie, Hillary, Donald, Ted, Marco, Ben or Carly facing what might likely have to be faced. The criteria may or may not change your original choice of the best candidate.

It is perhaps symptomatic of the problem that the campaign highlights other desirable, but in this context inessential, qualities. We are shown personability, physical attractiveness, sharpness of wit, familiarity with policy, even entertainment skills of the various contestants. These are important, and perhaps all-important in selecting the leader of a boring, crisis-less world. They would be vital in another time; the question is whether they are vital for 2017.

Read more here.

Inspiring quotes

“The secret of life…is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.” - Paulo Coelho, from The Alchemist

“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” - Helen Keller

“Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get — only what you are expecting to give — which is everything. What you will receive in return varies. But it really has no connection with what you give. You give because you love and cannot help giving.” - Katharine Hepburn

“I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others… I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent” – Thomas Edison

“You can make mistakes, but you are not a failure until you blame others for those mistakes.” -John Wooden

These inspiring quotes were found here, along with fifty others.