“A man is either free or he is not. There cannot be any apprenticeship for freedom.”

To be or not to be. No question about it.

We are not free as nature would have us be. We are not governed by laws of nature or justice alone, but by a system of laws of control and taxation. It begins at birth when we are assigned an inventory number which is on our birth certificate. The process of indoctrination escalates from there. Next we get a student number and student ID complete with facial recognition technology. If we want to drive we get another number with a photo, complete with facial recognition technology. If we want to work to support ourselves we get another number (account) under which we agree to be extorted by people who take that money and give it away to foreign bankers as interest payments on loans of money created out of thin air made to our government. Then, if we somehow save enough to travel, we are required to get yet another number on our passports along with yet another photo complete with facial recognition technology. While at the airport we may be strip searched or made to walk through an irradiated tunnel so they can record our walking pattern (gait technology). All the while our daily movements may be watched by closed circuit cameras posted all over our cities and towns. Our activities on the internet or our viewing patterns may be monitored by federal agencies who are keeping an eye on us in case we might not like the way they run things. Then we might be put on watch lists that bar us from flying on a commercial airline or public transit system. This same system does all it can to keep us from having the means to defend ourselves from criminals. I don't believe that herd animals are quite so monitored, coerced or recorded. "Land of the Free"...My Ass! Abolish the Fed and Restore the Republic.

To follow up on J Carlton's accurate comments. Thanks to this thing called The War on Drugs you may be stopped by the cops and have your money or other property stolen while you are never charged with a crime. It's compliments of our Congress and goes by the name of Asset Forfeiture.

The occupying statist theocracy infesting this land does not recognize freedom, liberty, inalienable rights or personal sovereignty. Any freedom an individual may enjoy is in between enforcement of compelled compliance, victimless crimes, larceny with impunity (2nd plank of the communist manifesto, police state confiscations, funny money, etc.) and tyranny. When freedom is limited to you can only do what the State has not yet forbidden you from doing the quote takes on a high level of accuracy.

Life processes follow a developmental prioritized design.

The enemies of freedom are not the government, it is the people who do not value their freedom, that have become subservient dependents that obey arbitrary authority — perpetual children.  The 'educated' are the most dangerous.  Confusing Power with Freedom supports the fallacy.