What did Benjamin Franklin mean when he said, "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom."?

Question

What did Benjamin Franklin mean when he said, "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom."?

Answer 1

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” (John Adams, October 11, 1798.)  

“Republican governments could be supported only by pure Religion or Austere Morals. Public virtue cannot exist in a Nation without private Virtue, and public Virtue is the only Foundation of Republics.” (John Adams, 1775.)  

“You're not as fortunate as I was; I had somewhere else to go. You can't escape; you must stand and fight if you want to be free.” (Stated as a reply to an American who suggested that Americans were very fortunate to be living in a free country. This unnamed refugee from Castro's totalitarian regime saw that what he had risked his life to get away from was being duplicated in America.)

“Religion in America takes no direct part in the government of society, but it must be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions of that country; for if it does not impart a taste for freedom, it facilitates the use of it. Indeed, it is in this same point of view that the inhabitants of the United States themselves look upon religious belief.

“I do not know whether all Americans have a sincere faith in their religion—for who can search the human heart?—but I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions. This opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or a party, but it belongs to the whole nation and to every rank of society.

“In the United States, the sovereign authority is religious...there is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America, and there can be no greater proof of its utility and of its conformity to human nature than that its influence is powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation of the earth.” (Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1830.)  

“Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains on their own appetites—in proportion as their love to justice is above their rapacity;—in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption;—in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there is without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.” (Edmund Burke, A Letter From Mr. Burke To A Member Of The National Assembly, 1791.)

“Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot. Religion is much more necessary in the republic…than in the monarchy…How is it possible that society should escape destruction if the moral tie is not strengthened in proportion as the political tie is relaxed? And what can be done with a people who are their own masters if they are not submissive to the Deity?” (Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Volume I, p. 318.)  

“…if America's freedom system is to be preserved, it will not be by government leaders but by an awakened people who are willing to sacrifice their personal ease to be informed, and who will insist that their leaders abide by the sound principles of the Constitution as drafted and intended by the Framers.” (Jerome Horowitz, The Elders of Israel and the Constitution, p. 187. 1970.)

Answer 2

a few things

but..

the first thing that comes to mind is

"Freedom MUST be Earned"

Answer 3

Because you have to get off your butt and have confidence in your abilities to succeed.

Answer 4

people will only get some thing if they work towrd there goals or something like that

Answer 5

This is an invigorating question.

Isiah Berlin in his address "Two Concepts of Liberty" made a distinction between two types of liberty or freedom. The first, negative freedom, was the freedom from something. Like the inability for the government to tell you how to chew your food, or comb you hair. Its basically the non restrictive freedoms. The other was positive freedoms. Or the ability to gain an aggregate amount of liberties and rights by acquiescing certain freedoms. So we're not free to drive as fast as we want, wherever we want, or however we want, BUT we are free to drive from the fear of getting into accidents, crashing into other motorists or expecting a safe ride. Isiah warned the positive liberties were more delicate and required much supervision as they could often lead to government abuse.

These positive freedoms are the basis, in my opinion for the enlightenment period concept of "the social contract". Our ability to give up our rights to stab and hit each other, to steal and rape each other. To do whatever we may please whenever we may please and live in an ordered society. We give the government/state the sole monopoly on force, and ensure the protection of property on it. BUT through that we gain sooo much. With our property fully protected, we can accrue wealth, inspire innovation, and fund creativity.

Max Weber and to an extent Seymour Martin Lipset, will agree that it takes a certain type of people with a certain type of culture to develop a certain type of legitimate government that provides, guarantees, and protects the most freedoms for its people. These governments/states provide a protection of the individual from the majority, of persecution of body and thought.

It takes a long time for cultures to arrive at Liberal democracies (liberal in the enlightenment period sense not in the 21st century politicized sense). And it must be imposed on others, it must develop naturally, and it must be engrained into the hearts of people.

Answer 6

He knew about the PNAC and he knew that they were not capable of promoting or preserving it either.