just because

"God grant that not only the love of liberty but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all the nations of the earth, so that a philosopher may set his foot anywhere on its surface and say: 'This is my country.'" -- Benjamin Franklin

"If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." -- John F. Kennedy

"The history of free men is never really written by chance but by choice -- their choice." -- Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Liberty is the possibility of doubting, the possibility of making a mistake, the possibility of searching and experimenting, the possibility of saying No to any authority-- literary, artistic, philosophic, religious, social and even political." -- Ignazio Silone

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." -- Thomas Jefferson

"You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence." -- Charles Austin Beard

"It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either."  -- Mark Twain, ironically