Political Quotes

On the recordJune 9, 2010
Freedom is a beautiful thing, but we have to realize there are a couple of things that come along with freedom. If you really want to be free, you're going to have to be responsible as well. You can't assume Big Brother government is going to do it all for you. The other thing is, if you want to be free, you have to tolerate the fact that other people near you may be successful. You have to suffer with some guy next door that's made millions of dollars and he gets to get in a fancy motorboat and ride around and maybe you'll feel jealous and even covetous of him. But that's freedom. You have to allow people to succeed, and you have to realize that you can also make a mistake and fail but you can have the freedom to get up and try again, but at least the government won't chain you down with regulations and bureaucracy and red tape and drive you into the dirt like an airplane that's not being flown right.
Said by
W. Todd Akin
Missouri

Editor's note · Context

The speaker discusses the responsibilities and challenges that come with freedom.

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