The "Ten Cannots" of Freedom

Homeland Security tried to put a damper on my 4th of July, listing the following behavior as a means to put an American citizen on the No-Fly list as a terrorist threat: cherishing personal liberty, opposing abortion, buying supplies in bulk (Hello, Sam’s Club), belief in gun rights, protesting taxes – oh, and paying cash for a cup of coffee (click for article: here).

Today, friends are bringing dishes to celebrate America’s Freedom. Some of you have sons and daughters serving our country today.  As we gather to break bread, pass the chicken, drink sweet southern tea, watch the children with sparklers and later the fireworks – let’s remind ourselves of what freedom and liberty are.

After reading through the news today, I thought maybe we needed to read something to remind us of those, letting you know that you are not alone – there are a bunch of us in our nation who still get it and instill those principles in our children. Homeland Security might night understand it, but bread-and-butter Americans understand it – and need to hear it. I kind of need it, too – so I am reposting this from the last 4th of July.

“Ten Cannots”

by Blue Cotton Memory

is a beautiful example of how the quote from one man (Abraham Lincoln) can inspire the reasoning of another man (William J.H. Boetcker) and 60+ years later, be used by another president (Ronald Reagan) to inspire a country to prosperity. Talk about Trickle Down Wisdom!Often attributed to Abraham Lincoln but really written in 1916 by William J.H. Boetcker, a Presbyterian minister and included in a pamphlet titled “Lincoln On Limitations” in 1942. These “10 Cannots” resonate with powerful truth today – praying that our leaders heed these words!

1. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
2. You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
3. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
4. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer
5. You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
6. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
7. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
8. You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
9. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man’s initiative and independence.
10. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.

Abraham Lincoln’s quote that inspired the “10 Cannots.”
“Property is the fruit of labor; property is desirable; is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence, is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built” – Abraham Lincoln in a March 21st 1864 address

By Blue Cotton Memory

I found the “10 Cannots” at Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace on a day trip a few years ago in Hodgenville, KY. The boys moaned as I figuratively drug them into the one-room cabin that was authentic to the era but not the authentic cabin of President Lincoln’s childhood. Granted, Mrs. Lincoln did not have 5 children – but I stood in that room without a bathroom and wondered where I would stuff all those boys if that had been my cabin.

Our country’s prosperity is suffering now because people our trying to shackle freedom and liberty. Now through Homeland Security, our government is trying to muffle the language and behavior of freedom.

If you read the article above, does it silently make you think about censoring your content to not use words indelibly linked with the liberty and freedom of our country’s history? The religious context of the founding our country? About how you will pay for your next cup of coffee as you write a pro-life post?

Sadly, it made me think twice.

Thinking twice doubled my resolve to not be intimidated out of my freedom.

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