Americans still nibbling on the cheese in the mousetrap

"You only find free cheese in a mousetrap" is one translation of what is said to be an old Russian proverb (although Walt has seen it described as Portuguese too). It means if someone offers you some cheese or other bait, free, you're likely in for a painful snap if you bite. The American version is "There ain't no free lunch."

The point is made in "Free cheese can only be found in a mousetrap", which appeared in the Collision of Church and State blog on November 2nd. It was picked up on the same day by The People's Cube, a decidedly right-wing and decidedly funny blog -- decided worth a look.

The blog post purports to be "a letter to the local paper from a woman in my town. Even though she made this a public letter that was published by our newspaper, I am not posting her name. We live in a very small town and to respect her privacy I will just post her warning to the American people."

The woman whose name the writer declines to reveal -- even though her letter was supposedly published, presumably with name attached -- says she grew up in the old Soviet Union, where she ate the "free cheese" -- free food, free housing, free education, free health care. And, she says, there was "no need to sweat for it".

"You did not lack food," the letter continues. "You had bed and roof, you had books and entertainments. You actually could do many things on your own. Except that you didn't have choices or freedoms. Also, if you said something bad about...the administration, you would be punished. You had to live according the...rules to be safe.... Actually, we were even happy. We didn't know different.

"We did not know that we were not free, because we didn't know what freedom really was; we were raised brainwashed by school and mass media. We presumed that we were free because we were told so."

The "letter" was published, the bloggers say, as a warning to the American people not to take the bait -- the free cheese -- offered by Hussein Obama, lest they feel the snap of enslavement to an all-powerful state. Seems as if 50% [not just 47%. Ed.] like mousetrap cheese. Will it still taste good after another four years?

Footnote from Ed.: I've searched all over the Internet for the original letter as described by the Blogger, but came up with nothing. On the other hand, Snopes doesn't have anything to suggest it's a hoax. I suspect it's an updated version of an anti-Communist diatribe from the Cold War era. The point is valid though.  Thanks to Agent 6 for passing this along.