Butler Shaffer on a free society

We may look to the day when the human spirit walks away from its self-imposed bondage.  In that day, men and women may discover that death in service to the state is not heroic; that obedience to power does not confer meaning upon one's life; and that a lengthened leg-chain is not to be confused with liberty.

~ Butler Shaffer, The Wizards of Ozymandias: Reflections on the Decline & Fall