A Relevant Excerpt; A Guiding Axiom; A Definition of Freedom

From "Property, Patriotism, and National Defense" by Wendell Berry (1984)

"The absurdity of the argument [that a nation should purchase at an exorbitant price and then rely upon a form of defense inescapably fatal to itself, ie. nuclear weapons] lies in a little-noted law of the nature of technology--that, past a certain power and scale, we do not dictate our terms to the tools we use; rather, the tools dictate their terms to us. Past a certain power and scale, we may choose the means but not the ends. We may choose nuclear weaponry as a form of defense, but that is the last of our "free choices" with regard to nuclear weaponry. By that choice we largely abandon ourselves to terms and results dictated by the nature of nuclear weapons. To take up weapons has, of course, always been a limiting choice, but never has the choice been made by so few with such fatal implications for so many and so much. Once we have chosen to rely on such weapons, the only free choice we have left is to change our minds, to choose not to rely on them. "Good" or "humane" choices short of that choice involve a logic that is merely pitiful."
Home Economics, p. 99

Sobering words as we walk of the cliff of necessity, comfortably numb.