The difference between Liberty and liberties is as great as between God and gods.-Ludwig Boerne
As seen quoted at The View from North Central Idaho
Rather, the difference between Freedom and Liberty is as great as the difference between Jehovah and the Aesir.
Liberty means freedom from restraint, obligation or control; having no restrictions. A man at liberty owes nothing to no one, and is footloose and fancy free. Liberty is freedom from oppression, limitation and interferance. Liberty means not being subject to the will of another. Liberty ultimately means having no accountability. Freedom on the other hand is a onerous state in which a man enjoys no obligatory support from his community and is restrained by his moral and ethical compasses. A free man is accountable to himself, and noone else.
If he is moral, a free man he will realize his duty to others of his "tribe", be it limited to his family, his comunity, or his nation. He will recognise his duty to aid them in protecting his tribe and their access to vital rescources. He will acknowledge his duty to the children of his tribe, to educate them, to support them, and to protect them.
If a free man is ethical he will realize his duty to others of his tribe in the form of protecting life and property. He will recognize his obligations to codify laws to prevent "mob rule" and despotism, and he will recognize the need to codify the essential liberties that allow men to live with one another in freedom and safety. Likewise an ethical man will acknowledge his obligation to defend, enforce and maintain both the code of laws and the articles of liberty from all that would pervert the law, abrogate freedom, and ruin those liberties essential to the freedom of all men.
If a free man is neither moral nor ethical he will be less than a man, a grown-up child; selfish and little more than a hyena, gibbering about his "rights" and trying to take by deception and cunning, what others have earned and fought for. A man at liberty is a man with no roots, no ties and no obligations and is an unknown vaiable; a threat, because he will not accept the responsibilites that seperate a free man from a man at liberty.
My apologies to Joe Huffman for taking so long to respond to his challenge to my comment. Real life interferes, you know.
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