> However it's also important to remember the popular phrase "those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither li

> However it's also important to remember the popular phrase "those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." This phrase is popular because it expresses the way many Americans, including myself, treasure freedom above all else, so any sacrifices of freedom should be done slowly or not at all if possible. That's a bad quote to reason from. The key word there is actually "essential" and is left totally undefined. This also demonstrates America's Achilles' heel, because that sentiment can easily be twisted into an argument against any kind of responsibility or sacrifice. I know many non-Americans, and the pandemic has disillusioned them towards America. They used to admire it a lot, but now they've seen so many Americans use liberty-rhetoric to justify acting in stupid and selfish ways that they think much less highly of it and those so-called ideals. America was supposed to prove the value of its ideals by being better at handling the pandemic than other countries, instead it's used those ideals as a justification for its failure, which is not a good look from any angle.