Freedom is the exemption from control by some other person, or from arbitrary restriction of specific defined rights like Worship, or Speech. Liberty is the sum of the rights possessed in common by the people of a community / state /nation as they apply to its government, and / or the expectation that a nation’s people have of exemption from control by a foreign power. Freedoms are things that people “EXTRACT” from their government; Liberty is less derivative, more formative; a thing “granted” by the people to the people in common. The ability to assemble, for instance, while commonly thought of as a freedom, is really an aspect of liberty.
Freedoms end when they encounter a contrary freedom of another person. You are free to smoke, until you encounter my freedom not to inhale your smoke. Liberty lacks that distinction: my liberty never contradicts or limits yours. Conservatives traditionally support Liberty, but they may tend to be pliant about certain freedoms, aware as they are to the poten tional dissonance. The First Amendment says: ‘Congress shall make no law…
prohibiting the free exercise thereof [of religion].’ However, the free exercise of religion is absolute only in terms of belief. There is no total freedom in regard to action. While law cannot establish belief, law can limit actions. Government does have authority to uphold law and order, otherwise society has social anarchy. On the other hand, government is limited in regard to making certain laws, otherwise society has total tyranny.
The Essay on Totalitarian Laws People Government
In "Ideology and Terror: A Novel form of Government", Hannah Arendt describes the totalitarian government and what it uses in order to be effective. She defines totalitarianism, by stating that its goal is to "transform classes into masses." The power of the people is taken away and lies only in the hands of one political party. Any traditions of the society are forgotten and an entire new ...
One limitation placed on government prohibits laws for the mind. Thomas Jefferson said, ‘I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man’ (Encarta Encyclopedia ’99).
Also, James Madison said, ‘The Religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man’ (Encarta Encyclopedia ’99).
