Duke of Buckingham
10-31-13, 11:17 AM
Billions of people live without freedom. In the worst of these countries, they live in fear and insecurity. They are literally slaves, bought and sold, or the effective slaves of their governments. They are hungry, starving, or diseased. They live in primitive refugee camps; are suffering under torture or the immediate threat of death; are diseased and soon to die without treatment. They are prisoners, concentration camp inmates, or in death camps. They are soldiers subject to the most barbarous treatment or involved in lethal combat. They are children performing dangerous forced labor. They are civilians cowering under bombing and shelling. They are women who are second-class citizens and cannot leave their home without completely covering themselves, the permission of their husband, and the presence of a male relative. They are the aged and infirm that barely subsist under dangerous environmental conditions. Even those who escape all this and manage to feel happy and safe for the moment still live under the realistic threat that war, revolution, disease, famine, extreme poverty and deprivation, or a dictator may destroy their lives, or those of their loved ones. So they live in fear of arrest and prison, of disappearance forever, of forced labor, genocide, mass murder, and an unnatural death.
Even in countries that are partially free, they may still be arbitrarily arrested, subject to torture, executed without a fair trial, spied upon, and denied even basic rights because of their race, religion, or nationality. Criticize the government and especially, its dictator or leader, and death may follow.
I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.
Robert A. Heinlein
Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it.
Pericles
Even in countries that are partially free, they may still be arbitrarily arrested, subject to torture, executed without a fair trial, spied upon, and denied even basic rights because of their race, religion, or nationality. Criticize the government and especially, its dictator or leader, and death may follow.
I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.
Robert A. Heinlein
Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it.
Pericles