On a whim recently, I picked up a copy of John F. Kennedy's "A Nation of Immigrants" and, among other things, was struck by this passage:
"A German farmer wrote home from Missouri in 1834:
'If you wish to see our whole family living in...a country where freedom of speech obtains, where no spies are eavesdropping, where no simpletons criticize your every word and seek to detect therin a venom that might endanger the life of the state, the church and the home, in short, if you wish to be really happy and independent, then come here.'"
How sad to see how far we've reverted on every one of these points.
posted by Elizabeth 12:10 PM