Forty Years of Freedom Slipped Away So Quickly

 Something went very wrong midway through the long stretch of seemingly growing freedom.

• When the time came to take it all away - and take it away they did! - the social, intellectual, and cultural bulwarks to hold freedom in place gave way.
• The momentum toward a better world was still in place. The path to the light still seemed achievable.

With just a bit of knowledge, there would have been no panic at all, much less compliance with the sudden imposition of demands that all venues where people gather must be closed.

• The population as a whole had begun to take freedom itself for granted, and even began to believe it was an optional condition of life.
• Something fundamental about culture and society had eroded to make this possible.

The Battle for the Public Mind

• The battle for the public mind in one's own time is the most important one, if we believe that building and protecting civilization is worth the price.
• Never take freedom for granted. Never believe that humankind is above and beyond the deployment of brutal methods of command and control.
• Ideas are the authors of history, and those are an extension of human minds.

Behind the scenes, there is much more going on:

• The formation of a serious scholarly and journalistic community that understands the stakes
• A parallel social and intellectual network dedicated to a different path.
• Brownstone will be part of that - as it has been since its founding.

All of us need to recommit ourselves to the path of progress

• We dare not relent lest the despotism we experienced only very recently be repeated and entrenched.
• Our job now is to regroup and recommit to living free lives, never again believing that there are magical forces at work in the world that make our role as thinkers and doers unnecessary.

https://brownstone.org/articles/forty-years-of-freedom-slipped-away-so-quickly/