It doesn't make sense because it's so often butchered. Here's the real quote from Franklin: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little tem

It doesn't make sense because it's so often butchered. Here's the real quote from Franklin: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." So, the liberty must be "essential" and the safety must be "temporary" - and the classification as such would be the essence of the argument. It's not so much a statement of principle as it is invective. And in context, it's actually about the liberties of a legislative assembly [1] rather than those of the individual, but that's a minor detail. 1. https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-ben-franklin-really-said https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-ben-franklin-really-said