I prefer, "individual liberty," to "freedom," because freedom pertains only to individuals. In any society, no matter how wonderful that society is or how many benefit from it, if any individuals in that society are not free to live as they choose, those individuals are not free, and that society is not a free society.

Individual liberty pertains only to action, freedom means free to choose and act by one's own best reason and understanding. There is no guarantee one's choices will always be successful or that one's actions will never have bad consequences. Freedom means free to pursue happiness, not certainty one will be successful in that pursuit.

Freedom is freedom to do, not to have. Any supposed freedom or "right" to have means someone else is responsible for providing that, "state," or, "thing," to which one supposedly has a right. If anyone has a right to something they have not produced or earned by their own action and effort, it means they have a right to something someone else has produced or earned by their own action and effort; it means some people's freedom must be limited for the sake of those who have a right to the product of their efforts, their life, and there time.

But this is exactly the upside-down perverted meaning of "rights" which is being promoted by the term freedom today.

Tyranny in the Name of Freedom

Websites, like AlterNet throw the words "freedom" and "liberty," around a lot. There are many articles pointing out the excesses of the oppressive American government, which is obviously the biggest threat to freedom, but what do these "defenders of freedom," mean by freedom?

One article, "More Devilish Definitions" by Sean Gonsalves is nothing but collectivist liberal rhetoric. Sean doesn't like, "enforcing and instilling personal responsibility on the unemployed, underemployed, and working poor." Apparently he thinks they should be, "free," from responsibility. But if they are not required to be responsible for themselves, who is supposed to be responsible for them? The fact that whoever it is will have their hard-earned money and time expropriated for that class which is supposed to be "free" of responsibility, does not constitute oppression in Mr. Gonsalves' mind.

Personal liberty is the last thing Gonsalves thinks freedom means. It does not occur to him that the confiscation of another's wealth by force is tyrannical at all, so long as its someone else's wealth.

"Now that Google's IPO is a done deal, company co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin made a mere $36 million a piece," Mr. Gonsalves notes. "If the Google offering had occurred in 1997, according to Responsible Wealth, Page and Brin would have each owed nearly $20 million in capital gains taxes. Instead, Uncle Sam's share will be just $11 million." Uncle Sam's share? Larry Page and Sergey Brin evidently do not belong to that special class Sean Gonsalves recognizes as the "free class." Larry Page and Sergey Brin are the slaves of that class, according to Mr. Gonsalves. Some freedom!

Mr. Gonsavles is not a friend of freedom, whatever he calls the oppressive tyranny he would like to shove down the throats of freedom loving individuals.

Your Freedom

You will find many out there promoting their brand of freedom. Before you support any of them, be sure when they say freedom, it includes your freedom. Many of those talking about freedom mean "freedom from fear," "freedom from responsibility," "freedom from danger or worry," and "freedom to have an education, health care, and financial security—freedom for everyone except you, because you are going to pay for it.

Some More Resources

Most people understand that one of the great threats to their personal freedom is the almost complete loss of privacy we now enjoy under our oppressive and intrusive governments (federal, state, and local). There is not a single telephone conversation you have that is not subject to government surveillance and monitoring. I will be providing some other resources for protecting the privacy of conversations, when necessary. [The government has spent huge resources overcoming schemes to keep conversations private. It is not easy to keep them private any longer.]

Even when the government is not, "listening in," it still has, by law, complete access to all your calling records and any messages the telephone companies may have recorded (because many are). There are some steps we can take to eliminate that particular government information source.

Calling cards can be used anonymously if purchased and used carefully. If purchased in a store with cash, calls made with that calling card are, with regards to records, anonymous. If you want to use a credit card, do not buy the calling card directly, especially if you do it online. Buy a gift certificate for yourself, (or pay someone else to buy one for you.) If you use the gift certificate for the purchase of a phone card, there is no connection between that card and its user, you.

The following are good on-line telephone resources:

FREE Cell Phones   FREE Shipping   Cellular Phones, Free Cell Phones   Camera Phones,Cellular Service Plans   Family/Share Plans, Accessories,   Prepaid Phones, Prepaid Cards   Gift Certificates

There are:   No contracts   No monthly bills   No credit checks   No deposits   No activation fees   TracFone works nationwide   Long distance at no additional cost