So, been thinkin' (again) and I've found that 'any' restrictions upon 'freedom'......

[Guest]

negate freedom.

Yeah sounds weird, I know - but check it out.

If you/we/us, our little society here - place restrictions upon our own freedoms, in any way - we then, in effect - 'restrict our freedoms, certain freedoms, with which we could possibly - further our own freedoms.' We cuff ourselves. We limit our tools. We limit our creative avenues.

Yeah, that sounds weird too - I know.

Example (only one I can think of right now): As a law abiding US citizen with no criminal record at all, I can't carry a gun on board a commercial airliner - it's against the law, our laws. But, if I could, I could have, possibly, maybe, been able to prevent a possible hijacking - saving lives. But I can't ever have had that chance to 'protect and further' our freedoms - because I am not allowed to. In effect, laws protecting my freedoms can actually prevent me from protecting those freedoms. (Sure, if such restrictions were lifted, bad guys could bring guns on a plane too. But think about it. If we could all carry guns do you really think everybody would be shooting each other? I don’t. I don’t think the bad guys would risk it.) (And the same with many ‘restrictions’ too. Do you think tons of people would yell ‘fire’ – if they could? Do you think bunches of people would steal your stuff – if they could? I don’t.)

So, how do you come down, negative or positive on this?

Negative - you think there are way too many 'bad things,' bad people - out there and welcome the self-imposed restrictions upon your freedom to protect what freedoms you have left.

Or.......

Positive - and think that generally most living, breathing people on the planet are good and that they would act responsibly, about everything and would not necessarily need self-imposed restriction - and therefore would have the 'creative power' to utilized any and all 'tools' to protect such freedom.

I think I rather ‘risk’ some bad in order to have the ultimate creativity and tools available to protect the freedoms that we have. I don’t think we have this and that is why ‘we’ GWB and company (Homeland Security) are having such a hard time with our security.

They are handcuffed – and they/we have done it to ourselves.

 

[Moi]

Log in first, Sparky....

 

[Sparky Kronkite]

This is me Sparky......

I still don't get it.

Why my sign-in seems to timeout and I then unwittingly post as unregistered.

It never makes any sense to me.

 

[Sparky Kronkite]

I did..... then.......

hacked this out on Lit - stayed on Lit while I cut/pasted/spell-checked in Word - cut and pasted it back to Lit - hit Post and then........

Unregistered.

It happens to me frequently and seemingly without reason.

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

Re: So, been thinkin' (again) and I've found that 'any' restrictions upon 'freedom'......

So, how do you come down, negative or positive on this?

I used to have a sticker on the back of my helmet that said "Legalize Freedom". I once got stopped by a cop, obstensibly for an illegal lane change, but I think he just wanted to hassle me as cops in Wa. state like to do to bikers. He asked me about the sticker, asking what it meant. I thought it was pretty self-evident. He stated that we lived in a free country right? I wondered if we lived in a free country, then he wouldn't mind me just riding without my helmet would he? I mean, it doesn't harm anyone but me right? He obviously didn't get it.

After some more hassling, asking me where I work, and when I told him I was unemployed, him asking me why I wasn't out looking for work rather than riding my motorcycle, and me wondering how he knew I wasn't riding my bike to a job interview and he was holding me up from that, but knowing that actually I wasn't looking for work because I made twice what he did and could afford to take a sabbatical whereas he had nothing better to do than hassle people.

I want unlimited freedom, but I accept that there is no such thing. I want partial freedom from gravity when I so choose so I can fly without benefit of a mechanism, but I know that is impossible. I want the freedom to be able to just plop down anywhere I want at anytime and to kill game when I need it, etc. - but I realize that if I want to live in a human society this freedom is not possible. Others want freedom to kill, maim and rape. As humans, we have all agreed that in order to live together in a better harmony, that we are willing to live by a certain set of rules that restrict our freedom.

As long as we keep those rules simple and to a minimum, we generally live together much better than if we lived in total freedom and anarchy. The problem is that we no longer have balance between freedom and rules; some who have good intentions and some who want power want to make complex rules to govern every aspect of our lives, making us dependent on and subservient to them.