Spies, Freedom and Unity

             As Edward J. Snowden slinks like an old-school spy through China and Russia to who knows where, and as we all become inured to the fact the National Security Administration knows about each of our impulse Best Buy purchases and how often (or not) we call our mothers, I am reminded of Vermont’s State Motto, Freedom and Unity, and Independence Day.

Vermont’s motto was adopted in 1788. Ira Allen melded it into his design for the Great Seal of the Vermont Republic.  The State Legislature readopted it when Vermont joined the fragile Union in 1791.

It means, of course, finding that balance between individual liberty – the right to do whatever we darn well please, damn the consequences, and the need to act as a whole to protect things like, well, liberty, which sometimes requires us to give up some, uh, freedom. This post is about how we are testing that balance.