“Morality, and the ideal of freedom which is the political expression of morality, are not the property of a given party or group, but a value that is fundamentally and universally human... No people will be truly free till all are free.”

"No people will be truly free till all are free." I did not realize, until reading this, that this is what I believe.

Each and every right exists inalienably in the individual, the value of which is expressed as freedom. The democratic oligarchy expresses its immoral political self through sence of party or group by force of license, compeled compliance, etc. No one person will be truly free till all are free.

Its very close but free from what - even in this county with have many who are born under the yoke - born into abject poverty. Until the world is free of hunger, abuse, and has the right to basic healthcare, there is no freedom. Our freedom today is at risk from every quarter brought on even more so by our present US government - we desperately need a department of peace funded by 10% of the military budget.

Freedom is a wonderful word... a word which each seems to read their own meaning into, expressing their freedom to have their own private nomenclature... yes, freedom for all is key, freedom from poverty, freedom from the yoke of the master, freedom from abuse... and yes, for us to all insure that we are all free, this may mean that there is a small price to pay... the price of compassion and caring for each other, each in the way we are most able.

There is no Freedom from the Responsibility of maintaining and defending that freedom. We will never be 'free' from hunger as every day we are hungry and must feed ourselves. We will never be free from poverty as there are many ups and downs in life and no two lives are the same -- poverty and wealth are also states of mind -- and we are free to choose how we will view life itself. I think we often confuse Freedom with Power. We have no 'rights' to power (other than the right and responsibility to take care of oneself). All of us have varying degrees of 'powers' -- and with power comes greater responsibility. But those with power have no more rights than those with less power. That is where the morality comes in. Compassion cannot be legislated, no matter how integral it is for a working society. It must remain a gift, if it is to be at all.

Freedom, when defined by "from" is an impossible phantasm. Freedom, when defined by liberty is expressed solely in the realm of "to".

From Greek philosophy, law is a realm of legal positivism, based on morality. One problem with that is each person has his/her own realm of morality. (-; now it is freaky when I absolutely agree with the "A" from Reston ;-) BUT, "Freedom is a wonderful word... a word which each seems to read their own meaning into, expressing their freedom to have their own private nomenclature..." The founders of the de jure States united choose a Hebrew observation, that being morality is based on the laws of nature or nature's god = natural law (or that which is, in science, at justice, etc.) Liberty: "The power of acting as one thinks fit, without any restraint or control, except from the laws of nature." (Bouvier's Law Dictionary) is the foundation of freedom to . . . If the quote was based on natural law morality it should be rated with the highest rating a multiple of times. It the referenced morality was based on legal positivism, it needs a thumbs down a multiple of times. With out that preface, I think the statements above are very good, thank you all - thank you editor !

Those who made their comments seem to have made them with the same eloquent truth as the author wrote the quote. I will just leave my 5 zillions of stars to all those who share their brightest horizons with us common readers.

The thing about freedom on the face of this planet, is God gives it to those who know they have it !! They live it day to day. With out question ! Live honestly and there are no regrets ! God is my Judge !

All were free in the beginning, Remember ?