Quote of the day by Abraham Lincoln on America's 250th birthday: ‘Those who deny freedom to others, deserve…’
“Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.” — Abraham Lincoln As
“Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.” — Abraham Lincoln As Americans celebrate 250 years of their freedom, LiveMint's quote of the day by Abraham Lincoln, the 16th US President who navigated the country through the Civil War, serves as a devastating critique of hypocrisy. Lincoln argued that freedom is a universal human right, not a conditional privilege that one group can hoard for itself while denying it to another. What does the quote mean? When Lincoln said, “Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves,” he was applying a political version of the Golden Rule. He is pointing out the fundamental absurdity of a slave-owning society demanding its own liberties. If you do not believe that freedom is an inherent human right belonging to everyone, then you have no logical or moral foundation to claim that it belongs to you. You cannot logically demand rights that you refuse to grant. The second half, “...and, under a just God, can not long retain it,” operates as a stark warning. Lincoln is asserting that a society built on a foundation of profound injustice is inherently unstable. He believed that the universe operates on a moral arc, and that a nation cannot survive half-slave and half-free. Eventually, the weight of that hypocrisy will cause the society to collapse, either through divine justice, internal rebellion, or war. Two years later, the outbreak of the Civil War would prove this warning accurate. Lincoln was specifically targeting a twisted political argument of his era. Southern politicians frequently used the language of "liberty" and "states' rights" to defend slavery.
They argued that the federal government was infringing on their "freedom" to own human beings. Lincoln used this quote to cut through that rhetoric, exposing that their version of "freedom" was just tyranny in disguise. How is it relevant today? Lincoln’s warning that freedom cannot be selectively applied remains one of the most relevant political and moral principles today. When a society treats rights as a zero-sum game—where one group can only secure its freedoms by stripping them from another—the entire system becomes unstable. Erosion of democratic norms: In many modern democracies, there is a trend toward majoritarianism—in which a ruling majority attempts to consolidate power by restricting the voting rights, civil liberties, or legal protections of minority groups. Lincoln’s quote serves as a direct warning here: a majority that dismantles the democratic rights of its opponents undermines the very legal frameworks that protect its own rights. Once the precedent is set that rights can be revoked, no one’s freedom is permanently secure. In many modern democracies, there is a trend toward majoritarianism—in which a ruling majority attempts to consolidate power by restricting the voting rights, civil liberties, or legal protections of minority groups. Lincoln’s quote serves as a direct warning here: a majority that dismantles the democratic rights of its opponents undermines the very legal frameworks that protect its own rights. Once the precedent is set that rights can be revoked, no one’s freedom is permanently secure. Global human rights and authoritarianism: On the geopolitical stage, the quote highlights the hypocrisy of nations that demand economic freedom and sovereignty on the global stage while ruthlessly suppressing dissidents, journalists, or ethnic minorities within their own borders.
The BriefWire