| KENTUCKY |
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| "My Old Kentucky Home" |
| WYOMING |
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| The Equality State |
By
Robert L. Candiotti August 12, 2010 Throughout civilization, over several thousand years, the
horse has been a symbol of freedom. On three United States quarter dollars, various conditions of horse-depicted
freedom are seen. The
U.S. quarter coins pictured above show two different equine views of freedom. In Kentucky, you
may be relatively free, but you are fenced in - to keep you safe, of course. That is the price you pay to have a constant
home. In Wyoming, sure, you may have been free, but now, to get along, you had better be ready to be tamed. That is
the price of "equality." The quarter dollar below, the Nevada 25-cent piece, shows a different reality of freedom.
| NEVADA, The Silver (And Libertarian) State |
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| All three artistic designs above are courtesy of United States Mint. |
On the Nevada quarter, the mustangs are not being held, not
being corralled, not being fenced in. The
wild horses on the Nevada quarter are not being tamed. They are not being controlled to behave. There is no freedom through
constriction. There is no freedom as a result of domination. The horses on the Nevada 25-cent piece are in a realm of true freedom and liberty. This can readily be interpreted
as Nevada's image of libertarianism. Being
secured in Kentucky, or tamed in Wyoming, is not bad. Of course, these places offer fine existences, where life is good. Yet, Nevada still - though some scholars say its orientation toward libertarianism
may be diminishing - is defined as a Western America state with a strongly pumping libertarian pulse. Nevada's statewide selected 25-cent design, favored by 60,000 Nevadans choosing
from five different sketches, issued by the U.S. Mint in 2006, probably depicts the strongest image of individual
freedom - combined with personal responsibility - on any of the United States' quarter dollar coins.
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