“The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are free to do than in what we are free not to do.”

Depending on the specific perception from which freedom is being defined, the quote can be extremely accurate, redundant, less than half the story when considering the tangible nobility of being, or etc.

A land in which all inhabitants can do anything they please is acctually not a free country. The strong will rule the weak; the majority will enslave the minority; factions will arise and wars for power will ensue. In a truly free country, each citizen has equal rights. Your rights end where others begin. You cannot freely take from another because he has the equal right to property. You cannot murder another because he has the right to life. If you have rights and you (and everyone else) are not free to trespass on the rights of another, you live in a free country.

I agree Publius. And that's why Freedom and Liberty "must" be combined with a system of Justice. All of which are pretty much non existent today.

Carlton take note "we are not free to take the money that by law belongs to the government" aka taxes. Under tax law a portion of virutally everything we make belongs to local, state and federal government. We are not free to deny them their due.