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I absolutely agree, but the opposite is also true. The ability to lose and not gnash teeth and blindly hate.

A good sportsman is also judged by his reaction to adversity, to the bad call, his ability to remain calm, dignified, and take the hit.

I assure you if your contested elections of Bush first term had happened elsewhere there would have been blood on the streets. At the cost of being banned, I say honor to the beaten foe, after the recount struggle that the USA moved on and accepted even with gritted teeth the call of your Supreme Court. That is the precious rule of law (which Americans know is never perfect, but nonetheless precious).

I say dishonor, deepening dishonor to those democrats that until just a few weeks ago were contesting the second and obviously clear cut Bush win. Whereas in the first there was something to argue about, in this second there was only a wanton display of bad faith and a mongering of mistrust, aimed at discrediting the whole American system.

Freedom requires fair play, rule of law. It is very dangerous to lose all bi-partisanship, to burn all bridges.

Freedom for me, very definitely means a proper balance of ideals and down to earth practicality. It means a tacit agreement that the ends must never justify the means (the true face of oppression). Freedom requires at least a minimum shared love of country, otherwise like in my far less perfect democracy, for some, worse is better and for far too many even much much worse is far far better.

You Americans are blessed with something nobody else in the world has. It is what you called "horse sense" coupled with ingenuity. You have many other unique blessings, for example a basic trust and goodness. Do you think shareware (try for free and if you like, kindly send the cash) could've started in very clever and crafty China or clever and crafty Italy? No, we're too smart for that, too clever, crafty and mistrustful. Those silly, stupid, gullible Americans! But now look who's laughing! Who created a knowledge base, who spread tha base to the rest of the clever and crafty world!

Freedom is better with one simple constant, like Judeo-Christian ethics. In the long view, this call of conscience will guide a country in the general proper direction. You might even without looking too hard see the hand of God.

If one looks at the madness of Islamic relativism, based not on love or wisdom, but on the hollow, meaningless, tautological shell of "God is Great" and on a collection of verses, some good, some bad, and plenty horrendous, written in a vague language and in jumbled order, with no recognized leadership and self-appointed Imams empowered with the right to emit murderous Fatwas, (almost sounds like the Loony left, doesn't it?) then it is easy to understand why a country that was modernizing, like Iran, suddenly reverts to the Middle Ages. The same goes for Turkey.

Our ethos might allow for more production one year and more distribution in another, but never such roller coaster Luna Park inversions.

And that is because we do not bow down to a short list of limited options, but are guided in our general Ethos by the Old and New Testaments, tempered as permitted by good faith, by enlightenment and science.

By broadly accepting the "oppression" of this one simple ethos (ten commandments, love thy neighbor, forgiveness) we have the broad guidance we need with the incredibly rich complexity we desire.

As long as we adhere to that simplicity, we are luckier even in our mistakes. But once we turn away from the basic and simple "golden rule plus 1" and become fascinated with alien concepts such as race or class or unlimited freedom, then we have the devil to pay.

It is not a fortuitous coincidence that almost all the countries of Judeo-Christian tradition are now peaceful democracies where ancient enmities have become meaningless.

It is not a fortuitous coincidence that Yemen instead has 1400 clans living in fortified cities, where everyone greets each other with "Peace!" We don't need to because for us peace is a foregone conclusion... and that too is an important, fundamental component of liberty.

The clans of Finland were once far more nasty and violent than those of old Saudi Arabia and Yemen where Islam got started. Today those Finnish clans, far from the source of religion, dance the tango (the most popular dance there) and they produce Nokia phones, equal in financial output to all of Arabia minus the oil!

Conscience is our motor for accruing truths. For example we had to learn that the black man was human. For us in the beginning he was not and that is why the white man felt free to enslave him. Only western civilization put an end to the practice and it was first set in motion by religious men in UK. In America, slavery was also a religious issue, some for and some against. With conscience as the guide (as opposed to sterile perfect Word of God mentality of the Koran which has entire surahs regulating even the fine points of slavery), time was on the side of the black man, because his humanity would obviously become more and more manifest. This is what I mean when I say we are guided even in our mistakes.

So the ultimate, the most important component of Freedom is conscience. Believe it or not religious conscience.

Some people when angry, look at their book and throw rocks as instructed. Others look at their books and read: "he who is without sin, cast the first stone!" - which is another way of saying, wait you idiot! Don't do what feels right, struggle, think ahead, think! THINK!

Some people throw rocks, others were taught to do things the hard, unnatural way... today those second people take those rocks and slice them very thin to store and move memory.

Perhaps, next winter holiday, (sic) instead of just saying "Merry Christmas"... we can say "Happy Birthday Jesus, outlaw baby born in a cave... thank you!" You are even in the very jazzy satellite guidance of my Chevrolet!

So Freedom is also this most beautiful of fairytales, all the more beautiful because it is true, palpable, good and faithful to man.

No bullshit.