Why Freedom Matters
My choices create my world. Each and every day I am creating my world exactly as I want it to be.
There is every reason to believe that a new era of hope and opportunity is just around the corner for humanity, if only we keep our minds focused on its creation. Personal freedom and the reverence for it are an essential component of that possible world.
Where freedom thrives there is innovation, inspiration, and creation. Where freedom is replaced by regulation, centralized control, and fear the hope for that world dims.
Some sincerely believe they can generate that world through government action. The truth is that world cannot be legislated or taxed into existence. It must be born in the hearts and minds of free people.
Freedom, with all its uncertainty and potential instability, remains the only engine capable of driving us to where our hopes become reality. Freedom means the status quo is always changing, always advancing to something better. This scares those who believe they have a stake in keeping things exactly as they are.
Freedom is the simple principle of live and let live. It is giving your opposition the same freedoms you want for yourself because you know you cannot have them without this act of acceptance. It embodies age-old principles like The Golden Rule. It is looking at the world through enlightened self-interest rather than dogma or fear.
Freedom is like oxygen to anyone seeking self-development, self-improvement, a sense of achievement, or success. Whatever those things mean to you, they cannot be accomplished without the breath of freedom flowing through the lungs of your efforts.
Freedom is the soil where you plant your hopes and dreams. It is the gentle rain and the warm sunshine that allows them to grow and flourish.
The freedom to think, to act, to express, to dream, to change circumstances, to believe, and to simply be are fundamental necessities without which no person can have dignity, liberty, or potential happiness.
Freedom is the guiding principle that must be present in any society purporting to advocate human dignity, personal liberty, or the pursuit of happiness. Where it is absent, regardless of the reasons offered, human potential cannot develop.
The possibility of attaining our aspirations and reaching our potential is inextricably linked to the political environment we inhabit. Therefore, we must vigilantly guard freedom from those who would take it away.
Humans struggled for centuries to achieve the freedoms we enjoy today. Those struggles continue in some parts of the world. Meanwhile, western peoples battle to keep our legacy of freedom in the face of shadows and fears created in our minds by those seeking a return to centralized control.
To know where we are going, we must remember where we have been. We must learn to recognize the guises that anti-freedom takes and reject them as working against our interests and goals.
Overblown threats demanding that we deposit our freedom in exchange for a mythical security are always a red flag. No one was ever made secure by giving up freedom. Our freedom is our security.
Just as a tornado can sometimes be wrapped in harmless rain the destruction of freedom can be wrapped in apparently good reasons.
Freedom is not something to be rationed by governments or granted on the basis of convenience or circumstances. For there will always be a reason to limit freedom, if we allow government to hide behind such excuses.
Those who want to live their dreams – personal and global – must thirst for freedom like their next drink of water. We must demand self-determination from our leaders and we must cultivate a freedom mentality in our own hearts and minds.
Sometimes it may require us to turn a blind eye to how others use their freedom. That is a small price to pay for the head wind freedom creates in our lives and in our world.
Stay inspired!