"The state remains, as it was in the beginning, the common enemy of all well-disposed, industrious and decent men." ~ H.L. Mencken
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"At the core of every policy decision is a fundamental question: Can Americans be trusted to be free? We like the word freedom, but we use it so loosely and even in such contradictory ways that it risks losing its meaning."
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"...it risks losing its meaning"?
"Freedom is man’s power to exercise his own faculties [abilities] as he chooses as long as he prohibits no other man from doing the same." ~ Dr. Milton R. Wolf
What?!?! I perceive that the meaning of freedom is already lost, to you, Milton, if that is your definition of the word.
How about this one, Milton?
Freedom. The power of acting, in the character of a moral personality, according to the dictates of the will, without other check, hindrance, or prohibition than such as may be imposed by just and necessary laws and the duties of social life. ~ A Dictionary of Law (Henry Black's 1st edition, c.1891) page 520
Or this one:
Freedom. The power of acting, in the character of a moral personality, according to the dictates of the will, without other check, hindrance, or prohibition than such as may be imposed by just and necessary laws and the duties of social life. ~ A Dictionary of Law (Henry Black's 2nd edition, c.1910) page 523
Or this one:
Freedom. The power of acting, in the character of a moral personality, according to the dictates of the will, without other check, hindrance, or prohibition than such as may be imposed by just and necessary laws and the duties of social life. ~ Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition (c.1991), page 664
Imagine that, Milton, it didn't change, by even one word, in ONE HUNDRED FRICKEN YEARS! And, do tell, what is wrong with it?
Wondering what the phrase, "in the character of a moral personality" means? Let us see if these clarify, for you, what that means.
Natural liberty, consists in the power of acting as one thinks fit, without any restraint or control, except from the laws of nature. It is a state of exemption from the control of others, and from positive laws and the institutions of social life. ~ Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language
Natural liberty is the right which nature gives to all mankind of disposing of their persons and property after the manner they judge most consistent with their happiness, on condition of their acting within the limits of the law of nature, and so as not to interfere with an equal exercise of the same rights by other men. Buriamaqui, c. 3, § 15; 1 Bl. Comm. 125 ~ A Dictionary of the Law (Black’s 1st c. 1891), pg. 716
NATURAL LIBERTY. The power of acting as one thinks fit, without any restraint or control, unless [except] by the law of nature. 1 Bl. Comm. 125. ~ A Dictionary of the Law (Black’s 1st c. 1891), pg. 801 [Bracketed information added]
"In the character of a moral personality" means, acting in harmony with the law of nature, i.e. the natural law of man, Milton, which are the only "just and necessary laws and the duties of social life".