From: “Red Rosa: A Graphic Biography of Rosa Luxemburg” by Kate Evans.
this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2023
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"Those who would give up Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety" -- Benjamin Franklin
The irony that in this quote he was supporting the authority of government specifically on taxation for long term defense. "Temporary" was kind of the whole point.
Which is precisely why it works in this context. He was talking about the Pennsylvania governor's ability to levy a new tax which some Englanders who ruled from afar were trying to bribe him to veto. His argument was that if people gave up their ability to govern themselves and let some faraway Leviathan do it in the hopes that said Leviathan would keep them safe, they deserved whatever was coming to them. I think this translates nicely onto "Socialism is not some Christmas gift for those who accept a dictator now in the hopes of achieving freedom in the future."