The Puritans left England for America not because they couldn't be Puritans in their mother country, but because they were not allowed to force others to become Puritans; in the New World, of course, they could and did.
Interpretation
The Puritans migrated to America not for religious freedom for themselves, but to impose their beliefs on others.
Gore Vidal's quote suggests that the Puritans were driven not by a desire for freedom of religion but by a need to exert their beliefs on others. They sought a new environment where they could practice their faith without opposition, indicating a complex relationship with the idea of religious liberty, where their quest for autonomy entangled with a desire for authority over others in matters of faith.
In practice
In a discussion about religious freedom during a class on American history.
We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
American writers want to be not good but great; and so are neither.
Writing fiction has become a priestly business in countries that have lost their faith.
The important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
For the average American, freedom of speech is simply the freedom to repeat what everyone else is saying and no more.
Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society.... To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.
One time, I was given an essay topic: to describe a perfect horse, whom the mere sight of the rider's whip would make obedient. I depicted this perfect horse throwing his rider at the sight of the whip.
Deep down there was understanding, not of the facts of our lives so much as of our essential natures.
I am a strong individualist by personal habit, inheritance, and conviction; but it is a mere matter of common sense to recognize that the State, the community, the citizens acting together, can do a number of things better than if they were left to individual action.
Strong and healthy, who thinks of sickness until it strikes like lightning? Preoccupied with the world, who thinks of death, until it arrives like thunder?
If a book were written all in numbers, it would be true. It would be just. Nothing said in words ever came out quite even. Things in words got twisted and ran together, instead of staying straight and fitting together. But underneath the words, at the center, like the center of the Square, it all came out even. Everything could change, yet nothing would be lost. If you saw the numbers you could see that, the balance, the pattern. You saw the foundations of the world. And they were solid.
The wretch condemn'd with life to part,_x000D_ _x000D_ Still, still on hope relies;_x000D_ _x000D_ And every pang that rends the heart_x000D_ _x000D_ Bids expectation rise.
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