Clizby Wampuscat
Well-Known Member
To some, liberty is a most cherished ideal; to others, liberty is frightening. Thomas Jefferson said, “Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.” Liberty is the guiding principle that thriving societies are built upon. When liberty is no longer valued as an ideal to strive for, societies devolve into authoritarian rule cheered on by the people that espouse liberty but have no idea what that means or what it demands of them.
Almost everyone you ask will say they are for liberty, they support liberty, but people mean different things by the term liberty. Some believe liberty is being free to do what you want with what you produce within a peaceful and civil society. Others believe liberty is being free to do what you want with what other people produce within a peaceful and civil society. The former is true liberty, and the ladder is fake liberty and will ultimately end up in authoritarian rule. When you tie your liberty to what other people produce, you are denying the other person liberty and history shows the demands of fake liberty get more and more on others in society denying more and more of their free choices.
Why should we value liberty? Because we all have a duty to be happy and you cannot be happy without experiencing true liberty. Every person deserves true liberty just by the fact that they were born. We all have one fragile life that can end at any moment. The universe is around 13 billion years old; we live at max 120 years. We live a brief period of time, and that fact makes our lives precious and something that should not be wasted by others ruling over us or demanding by force we do things we do not want to do. But we know that most people in the history of mankind were not born into liberty but into some form of slavery or authoritarian society that limited or downright denied them liberty. Liberty is something most people yearn for but some look to limit it for their own gain. When liberty is denied someone, it is always for the fraudulent but real benefit of someone else. It usually benefits the few and denies liberty to many.
All governments conceived to try to maximize liberty, will eventually slide toward authoritarianism in some form if the people governed do not keep vigilant and fight against attacks on their liberty. This is done in many ways by government promising peace or safety in exchange for part of your liberty. It keeps chipping away until enough liberty is taken by the government to effectively be an authoritarian government controlling most of what you can and cannot do in a society. Liberty demands of us to be vigilant, express our concerns and even fight if necessary to keep our liberty.
In the U.S., where I live, the best way to keep our liberty is to understand what liberty is and what the founding documents say and don’t say. To understand why the founding documents are written as they are, the reasons behind our protected freedoms especially free speech, freedom of the press and freedom to assemble. It is important we know and teach our children why we have separated powers and the role of the federal government as stated in the constitution etc. We need to be able to challenge each other’s ideas without retribution or harassment and push back on our elected officials when they promote policies that limit our freedoms.
Liberty is a fragile thing and most civilizations have not been pro liberty but have been some form of authoritarian setup. This is the nature of people, and it takes character and work for leaders in government to keep from seeking power for power’s sake. Liberty is worth fighting and sacrificing for. History shows it is the bold and courageous people that have preserved liberty for the next generation, not the timid and weak.
Almost everyone you ask will say they are for liberty, they support liberty, but people mean different things by the term liberty. Some believe liberty is being free to do what you want with what you produce within a peaceful and civil society. Others believe liberty is being free to do what you want with what other people produce within a peaceful and civil society. The former is true liberty, and the ladder is fake liberty and will ultimately end up in authoritarian rule. When you tie your liberty to what other people produce, you are denying the other person liberty and history shows the demands of fake liberty get more and more on others in society denying more and more of their free choices.
Why should we value liberty? Because we all have a duty to be happy and you cannot be happy without experiencing true liberty. Every person deserves true liberty just by the fact that they were born. We all have one fragile life that can end at any moment. The universe is around 13 billion years old; we live at max 120 years. We live a brief period of time, and that fact makes our lives precious and something that should not be wasted by others ruling over us or demanding by force we do things we do not want to do. But we know that most people in the history of mankind were not born into liberty but into some form of slavery or authoritarian society that limited or downright denied them liberty. Liberty is something most people yearn for but some look to limit it for their own gain. When liberty is denied someone, it is always for the fraudulent but real benefit of someone else. It usually benefits the few and denies liberty to many.
All governments conceived to try to maximize liberty, will eventually slide toward authoritarianism in some form if the people governed do not keep vigilant and fight against attacks on their liberty. This is done in many ways by government promising peace or safety in exchange for part of your liberty. It keeps chipping away until enough liberty is taken by the government to effectively be an authoritarian government controlling most of what you can and cannot do in a society. Liberty demands of us to be vigilant, express our concerns and even fight if necessary to keep our liberty.
In the U.S., where I live, the best way to keep our liberty is to understand what liberty is and what the founding documents say and don’t say. To understand why the founding documents are written as they are, the reasons behind our protected freedoms especially free speech, freedom of the press and freedom to assemble. It is important we know and teach our children why we have separated powers and the role of the federal government as stated in the constitution etc. We need to be able to challenge each other’s ideas without retribution or harassment and push back on our elected officials when they promote policies that limit our freedoms.
Liberty is a fragile thing and most civilizations have not been pro liberty but have been some form of authoritarian setup. This is the nature of people, and it takes character and work for leaders in government to keep from seeking power for power’s sake. Liberty is worth fighting and sacrificing for. History shows it is the bold and courageous people that have preserved liberty for the next generation, not the timid and weak.
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” ~ Ronald Reagan
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