Which Freedom Do You Want?

Ask people what freedom means and you will get different answers. Ask people what the difference between freedom and Liberty is and you will usually get a blank stare. I believe that a country founded in Liberty is more free than one founded in freedom. Let’s look to Thomas Jefferson for a foundation:

Jefferson expressed a sophisticated, radical vision of liberty with awesome grace and eloquence. He affirmed that all people are entitled to liberty, regardless what laws might say. If laws don’t protect liberty, he declared, then the laws are illegitimate, and people may rebel. While Jefferson didn’t originate this idea, he put it in a way that set afire the imagination of people around the world, Moreover, he developed a doctrine for strictly limiting the power of government, the most dangerous threat to liberty everywhere.

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Let’s define the two terms:

Freedom is a state of being capable of making decisions without external control.

Liberty, on the other hand, is  freedom which has been granted to a people by an external control.

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The degree of liberty that people enjoy is based on only one factor: their government. As Jefferson pointed out, the power of the government is the most dangerous threat to liberty everywhere. Socialists and Communists have a different view of freedom. We can see a great example below from Venezuela where freedom has been defined as food provided by the government.

In the United States, this same type of tyranny is called “soft tyranny”. Over 50% of the people are receiving food from the government. Whether the food is from government subsidies or workfare, the result is the same: Liberty has been granted by a federal government. This was never the intent of the founding fathers who understood the threat a federal government posed to both freedom and Liberty.

My goal is simple: start thinking about your freedom. Which freedom do you want? Do you want to live in a country where freedom is dictated by “rights” determined by the government. The right to an abortion. The right for healthcare? The right to a job? These are not the rights provided by liberty: they are the rights provided by the “government”with a never ending quest for power.

Do you want to live in a free country where people died to establish Liberty or do you want to live in a Socialist paradise where people define freedom through government subsidies?

David DeGerolamo

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Socialists and Communists have a different view of freedom. We can see a great example below from Venezuela.

“All I Have Is Hunger” – Many Venezuelans Too Weak To Protest Despite Maduro Misery

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