Concepts of Liberty

The Frog is Boiling

The following article is from an old scrap book. This warning was given years ago while Medicare was still new, and is now being fulfilled with the current "health care" debate.

Frogs and Freedom

There's an old story that says you can't kill a frog by dropping him in boiling water. He reacts so quickly to the sudden heat that he jumps out before he's hurt. But if you put him in cold water and then warm it up gradually, he never decides to jump till it's too late. By then he's cooked.

Men are just as foolish. Take away their freedom overnight, and you've got a violent revolution. But steal it from them gradually (under the guise of "security," "peace," or "progress") and you can paralyze an entire generation. Look at the income tax. It started out at a harmless sounding 1%. It would have been easy to jump out of water as tepid as this, but like the frog, we waited while it climbed ever higher. (Try jumping out now!)

Worst of all, we never learn. Even today we cannot believe that Medicare is the same warm water that will one day boil us in Socialized Medicine. We see no connection between farm price supports and Nationalized Agriculture. And if we draw a parallel between subsidized teacher's pay and federal control of education we are called "extremist."

The tragedies of history are always repeated by those who refuse to learn them. To seek guidance from the past is not "turning the clock back" as we are so often told. It is merely a good way to keep out of hot water.

(Courtesy of Blackmere Pump Co.)