I say not "give me liberty or give me death". I say I am born free and he who would deny me freedom risks his own death.
Freedom is not something someone gives you. It is something someone takes from you. To do so, that person must either threaten you with force, fool you with lies, or buy you by offering you something you want more than freedom. The most clever of those who would enslave you are those who promise you sweet dreams of heaven, wealth without work, or peace without risks if you will only let them rule you. Whether it's the politician, the priest, the bureaucrat, the general, the cop, or the rich man who makes such an offer, it is always a devil's bargain.
Freedom doesn't guarantee happiness, success, nor the good life. Being free does mean you get to choose to do whatever you think will bring you happiness, earn you success, and allow you to live the good life as you define the term. Being free also means you have to live with the consequences of the choices you make.
A lot of people, perhaps most people, don't think freedom is all that important. They gladly trade freedom for the promise of a myth, the ceremony of the temple, the food trough of the slave pen, or the security of the welfare state. All I ask of such fools is that they don't try to force me, nor even cajole me to join them in their brave new world.
The way to build a free society is not by revolution, by government command, nor even by democratic vote. A free society can only exist as a collection of individuals who insist on being free. No truly free individual would ever deny another person that same freedom. If you refuse to grant authority to any human to rule you, then you have taken the first step to being free. The best way to advocate freedom is to live a life that is an example of how well freedom works.
The guarantee of personal freedom is a free mind--a mind willing to seek knowledge no matter where the quest leads, and ready to abandon all myths, be they political, religious, or cultural, that bind the mind to the will of others. The body that holds a free mind can be imprisoned, enslaved, starved, beaten, or tortured, but that mind will still be free to know the truth, to imagine what might be, and to crave a new day of physical freedom, no matter what risks must be taken to achieve it.
If you are someone who insists on being free, welcome to my pages. You are the kind of person with whom I would like to share a bit of knowledge, a few opinions, and some tall tales.
[NOTE: We have obtained permission from the author to republish this article on BuildFreedom.]
Copyright 1996--Mack Tanner. This original work may not be copied or distributed in any format without the specific consent of the author.
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