[unspun]

The idea that virtue is a necessary pre-requisite to liberty, will be the subject of a future article, but to conclude this article, let us consider a quotation from John Locke, a philosopher on whom our founders greatly relied. He observed there can be no lasting liberty without law:

“[T]he end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings, capable of laws, where there is no law there is no freedom. For liberty is to be free from restraint and violence from others, which cannot be where there is no law; and is not, as we are told, ‘a liberty for every man to do what he lists.’ For who could be free, when every other man’s humour might domineer over him? But [“liberty” means] a liberty to dispose and order freely as he lists his person, actions, possessions, and his whole property within the allowance of those laws under which he is, and therein not to be subject to the arbitrary will of another, but freely follow his own.” (emphasis added.)33

Thanks for the post and the ping. I suggest that the reader (and the writer) ;-) look into the influence of Algernon Sidney this nation's founding. (Do a keyword search in FR on the name.) Here's one URL: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/938320/posts