From a liberal view - what is Freedom?? Is every life so intertwined with others that it is mute?

[The Straight Story]

From air quality issues and banning wood burning fireplaces during certain times of the year, to requiring permits for garage sales if you have one for more than 2 days we have laws and regulations (don't want to affect other peoples' property values/taxes).

Are all our lives so tied together now that most of what we do (from what we eat, drink, smoke, etc) affects other people so much that we make laws to punish people who do not conform to what is best for the collective?

And where does it all end? Is there anything you do that does not affect others in some ways??? And if everything is so intertwined where is the real freedom for the individual (again, I stress Individual here and not corporation)?

Does using your computer hurt the environment, and should you pay for doing so? Should the Amish be the model by which we live (except for the religious side of course...)?

What IS freedom anyway and where does the freedom of the person end in our society? And if it is all so tied together, do we really want people to be free, or do we want them to be regulated to the hilt (from what they eat, to how they cook it, etc and so on)?

[annabanana]

1. It ain't the freedom to choose paper or plastic. .

Coke or Pepsi. .
Points or Cash Back. .

It's the Freedom to speak your mind to and about your political rulers without fear of retribution. It's the Freedom to come and go as you please without providing papers. .for you are presumed innocent. It's the freedom to petition the government for redress. The freedom to keep the company I like...

I don't want to make my neighbors sick, but unless it can be proven that I have, I should be free to do what I like...

[Deja Q]

2. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Therefore I am not keen on abortion (save for certain circumstances), and like it when people have the freedom to pursue responsible livelihoods based on their personal strengths. (e.g. some people think the pursuit of happiness is killing people. But killing people is clearly ethically, morally, and legally wrong!)

[The Straight Story]

4. But when does YOUR life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

interfere with mine? Sadly, I think more and more it does and it is being regulated and punished.

[Deja Q]

6. I already gave one such example of when regulations are inevitable.

And there is nothing wrong with regulations; why some entities believe regulations are bad, I do not know.

[The Straight Story]

9. Some - yes, obviously

But when does that end and why? If everything I does has some affect somehow on others am I truly free? Or do I need to be regulated into submission :)

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

3. Do you really believe most laws are made to benefit the collective?

Do you really believe that?

:shrug:

Have you ever worked within the legislative or political system?

I am so sorry. I really don't mean to sound mean towards you, at all. I'm just wondering why you believe most laws are made to benefit the collective. I understand that our lives are being increasingly intruded upon. However, the more I see about laws, the less they are about serving the collective.

Just my perspective.

[The Straight Story]

7. Yes, I do actually - in some ways

The longer we exist the more laws we make and the more restrictive things become. Are we more free now than we were years ago?

On the other hand, to bolster your position, one might say we are not less free but our abilities to do things are more regulated.

My fear is that we will keep going down this path until the point we have so few freedoms as individuals that we cannot move without government approving it first.

At what point does it end?

[Wiley50]

5. Not Mute as it Speaks Volumes. Perhaps you meant Moot?

Either way

it's just another word for nothing left to lose

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. You Need To Distinguish Between Acts That Directly Affect Others And Those That Don't

If I was independently wealthy and wanted to spend all my time smoking pot, eating potato chips and watching porn that should be my right...However one can make the argument if I was doing that then society would be denied the benefit of my genius and consequently I should be stopped...

-:)

[scarletwoman]

10. Please check you inbox. (nt)

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. A few quotes about freedom that I agree with.

"Freedom for the supporters of the government only, for the members of one party only - no matter how how big its membership may be - is no freedom at all. Freedom is always for the man who thinks differntly." Rosa Luxemburg

"All I ask is equal freedom. When it is denied, as it always is, I take it anyhow." H.L. Mencken

"Freedom is the right to one's dignity as a man." - Archibald MacLeish

"I know of but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind." Antoine de Sainte Exupery

"Freedom cannot be granted. It must be taken." Max Sterner

"Freedom is the absolute right of all adult men and women to seek permission for their actions only from their own conscience and reason, and to be determined in their actions only by their own will, and consequently to be responsible only to themselves, and then to the society to which the belong, but only insofar as they have made a free decision to belong to it." Mikhail Bakunin