“Freedom in art, freedom in society, this is the double goal towards which all consistent and logical minds must strive.”

Its a start

Amen

Freedom couple with responsibility is excellent. Unfortunately, abused freedom too often serves as a pretext for excessive corruption or unjustifiable domination, which is clearly evident.

While this is true enough in normal times, when survival is at stake there are new responsibilities. This quite from John Adams sums it up for me: "I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain." John Adams US diplomat & politician (1735 - 1826)

Freedom as an end in itself as expressed here sounds like it would be an uncontested truism, but all values that are expressed as absolutes cannot be effective unless coupled with the verb that may put them into action. "Striving" is as key to what this quote envisions as are the freedoms that may be arrived at only through conscientious people doing the morally right thing. Undisciplined and unearned freedom is as dangerous in society as it is vacuous in art.

I second that, EGL.

There is no freedom without responsibility. To argue against freedom is to argue against individual responsibility. I really love the quote from John Adams that Michael has shared. Life is an art -- to be treated as anything less is indeed a waste.

There will always be a small percentage of people who abuse whatever freedom is available. But, forcing the law-abiding to losing their freedom is not the way to stop abuse.