I have tried, twice, to read Jim Demint's 2009 Saving Freedom. Can't do it. His short history of Jim Demint was at least short, and we were able to learn that he is a typical, God-fearing, American. Oh, and don't forget freedom-loving.
He tells stories, too. Like the plot of one of the episodes of the Andy Griffith Show where Andy lets Opie fight it out, even though he loses. He doesn't pander to Opie because that would be taking away his freedom to learn to take his licks.
He tells the story of the Gingerbread Man, and then wraps it up for us by saying, "There may be no better metaphor for America than the Gingerbread Man."! Now, stay with me. How, you wonder, is the Gingerbread Man the quintessential metaphor for America? You got it, freedom.
Are you starting to see a pattern here?
So I thought that, instead of reading the book, I would just count the number of times the word freedom appears. Then I thought, while I'm doing that, I could count the number of times the word socialism appears. Then, on the freedom side, you could tote up the word values. On the socialism side, you would have to add big-government, which really, really is one-word.
Anyway, I figured if I had the time to read the book, it might just be better for my mental health if I added up the key words. Because reading Jim Demint is like listening to Jim Demint. Which is like falling into a giant marshmallow, but not as sweet.
In other words, as an American, I value my freedom too much to waste my time trying to follow Demint's non sequiturs and delusions, and I value my mental health too much to listen to his thinly disguised lack of respect for MY freedom.
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