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To: zechariah

Indeed, so long as you follow our society's rules, you are free to go anywhere and do anything.

What you want is a society that has NO RULES. That society is called Anarchy, and it binds everyone that it touches to the law of the jungle rather than to the polite rules of civilization.

My point to you was that you are free, or at least, that I am free to do what I want.

In contrast, you want to claim that you aren't free because you can't do those things in the *manner* that you want.

You want your drugs without prescriptions, for instance. You want your guns on planes that you don't even own, for another.

So to you, if you aren't free to drive the wrong way down a 1 way street, then you aren't "free", but to me, so long as I can get to everywhere that I want to drive by simply following rules, then I am free.

That's an enormous difference in perspective (and it is a difference that separates the 1% of society's radicals from the 99% mainstream).

65 posted on 04/11/2003 11:33:02 AM PDT by Southack (Media bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: Southack
Indeed, so long as you follow our society's rules, you are free to go anywhere and do anything.

Our own Congress does not follow its own rules. Like pre-Revolutionary France, the law has become labyrthine, and unknowable.

Consequently, rule of law is breaking down.

70 posted on 04/11/2003 12:57:46 PM PDT by AdamSelene235 (Like all the jolly good fellows, I drink my whiskey clear....)
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To: Southack
Indeed, so long as you follow our society's rules, you are free to go anywhere and do anything.

By that definition, the citizens of Nazi Germany were free.

What you want is a society that has NO RULES. That society is called Anarchy, and it binds everyone that it touches to the law of the jungle rather than to the polite rules of civilization.

No sir. You are very wrong. The United States of America is a Constitutional Republic that was instituted to secure rights. As originally instituted, there were strict limits placed on the government's ability to intrude upon and interfere with the people's lives. Government was ther servant of the people. That is no longer the case. There are no actual limits on government's power and the people serve the government.

My point to you was that you are free, or at least, that I am free to do what I want.

Yes, just as Henry Ford's customers were free to choose any color they liked, as long as it was black. Just as the citizens of Stalinist Russia were free to travel wherever they liked, so long as they had the appropriate paperwork.

In contrast, you want to claim that you aren't free because you can't do those things in the *manner* that you want.

No, the points I have raised are all things that are completely prohibited are are not allowed in any manner. Further, there is no barrier against further loss of freedoms. (Here's a hint: That's why FreeRepublic exists--to try and combat the loss of liberty that previously was protected by the Constitution and the courts.

You want your drugs without prescriptions, for instance. You want your guns on planes that you don't even own, for another.

You apparently did not read what I posted: until a drug has been approved by the FDA it is not legal for a doctor to prescribe it or for a pharmacist to dispense it, even though the drug is being manufactured and for sale in other countries. And it is not the owners of the planes that have asked me not to carry a gun--if they chose to do so, that would be their right. But the government--which does not own the planes--has told the owners that they cannot allow passengers to carry weapons. There is a big difference.

So to you, if you aren't free to drive the wrong way down a 1 way street, then you aren't "free", but to me, so long as I can get to everywhere that I want to drive by simply following rules, then I am free.

False analogy. And despite what you've been taught by the Left, repeating it ad nausem does not make it true.

That's an enormous difference in perspective (and it is a difference that separates the 1% of society's radicals from the 99% mainstream).

As I said before, this is the Left's greatest triumph to date: they have successfully convinced Americans that we do not live in a socialist society, all evidence to the contrary.

You know, there is a reason why people like Nancy Pelosi, Noam Chompsky, and all the leftist, anti-war protesters are the first and loudest to scream the word "Democracy". They understand that an unconstrained democracy is free to make any law, pass any regulation and impose any burden on its people and still claim to be a free society. After all, you are still free to go where you want, do what you want and say what you want, as long as you follow society's rules.

[z]
80 posted on 04/12/2003 9:23:31 AM PDT by zechariah (Dangerous Jesus Lover)
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