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What Does Freedom Mean to You?

March 10, 2009

Never forget that our freedom was purchased with the blood of those who have gone before us. We should be ashamed to surrender it so willingly to our own government an inch at a time.

Someone recently gave me a rundown of some of the legislation that is already moving through the U.S. Congress or is expected to be soon. To say that I am appalled is an understatement. To summarize: the government seems to feel it has the right and the authority to infringe upon our freedoms on a host of different fronts. Laws to increase governmental control and eliminate personal freedoms are rampant. Government meddling, government regulation, government control, government tracking, government nationalization, government limitations, government redistributions, government taxation, government stipulations, government interference, government privacy invasions, government hubris, government arrogance, and government bureaucratization.

I don't know what the word FREEDOM means to you, but to me it means that I get to live my life my way, raise my children as I see fit, educate them the way I determine is best, worship my God as I interpret my Bible, defend myself and my family as I deem sufficient, store my wealth the way I want, travel as I please, earn my living and actually get to enjoy the fruits of my labor, obtain the service that I can afford without stipulation or regulation, and have the right to perform to whatever level of ambition I choose. I rely upon my country through MY taxes to protect life from those who would take it or harm it, to defend against enemies domestic and abroad, and to preserve the general societal order. Most everything else I prefer to do within the private sector and not the public, government-controlled sector.

I would like to hear from all three of you out there! What does freedom mean to you?

After commenting with your answer on this blog, allow me to recommend an interesting exercise. Ask this same question to someone else you know. I predict you will discover two things:

1) most of us agree on the basic precepts of freedom, once we stop to consider them

2) people are massively uninformed about just how much our freedoms are under attack

Try the exercise and report back here to this blog. I look forward to your responses!

"A nation of well informed men who have been
taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be
enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins." –
Benjamin Franklin

Posted in Current Affairs

21 responses to “What Does Freedom Mean to You?”

Rusty Robson

March 10, 2009

Wanted to share some parallel concepts. http://masteringthecontext.blogspot.com/

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Rob W.

March 10, 2009

Hi Chris,
I believe Freedom is choice. We have the freedom to choose where we live, what we do and what we believe in. I am a proud Canadian and earlier this year in New Brunswick, it wasn’t the government, but a principal that was taking away the freedom of the Canadian students to honor Canada and the people who have lost lives protecting it. Here is a link to the story…
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=1232716.
I remember growing up singing the national anthem and saying prayer before every school day and I turned out fine. They have taken away prayer and soon enough, who knows…
Last thing, we were at the St Louis seminar and I’ll tell ya what, we were all proud to be part of the Team. The freedom to gather, say prayer and salute both Nations, Canada and the USA, talk about fired up!!

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Phyllis Hoff

March 10, 2009

Chris:
For me, freedom is summed up into CHOICE. I can choose all the things you mention above, without restriction.
Naturally, there needs to be some form of order, but we are headed down a path of restriction, and complete control, which will surely take away our freedom, our choice.
Good exercise, and I will definitely be asking this question of folks today.
This is a great post and a great lesson.
Thank you and God Bless.
Phyllis

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Jason Hobson

March 10, 2009

Webster’s Dictionary definition of Freedom:
Pronunciation:
\ˈfrē-dəm\
Function:
noun
Date:
before 12th century
1: the quality or state of being free: as a: the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action b: liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another : independence c: the quality or state of being exempt or released usually from something onerous d: ease , facility e: the quality of being frank, open, or outspoken f: improper familiarity g: boldness of conception or execution h: unrestricted use 2 a: a political right.
Now complete freedom without rules or guidelines, results in Anarchy, due to everybody doing their own “thing”. A society cannot sustain themselves without guidelines.
There was a study that was done a little while ago: A playground was erected in this large field. There was nothing else, but a playground. Children were brought to this playground and for hours they never left the playground. A few weeks later the children had been brought back to the playground, but this time, there was a fence around the field. Not right around the playground, but around the field. By the end of that day, each one of the children had ventured out to the fence. Not to test it’s strength or the ability to keep them in, but to allow them to enjoy then entire field, not just the playground.
Our freedom isn’t about having unrestricted use of everything in our power, but it’s about doing using what we have to do what is morally and ethically right. Not what the government says is right, but what we know is right. As our government grows, our founding fathers cringe at the thought they had fought so hard to create a country that would not be a tyranny to it’s people. This is the exact reason why the average life of a society lasts only 200 years. We have passed that mark by only 33 years, but we are falling into the same pitfalls that have plagued most of the other great fallen civilizations of the past. It is not our right to have the government create all of these programs. It is our PRIVILEGE. It is our right for freedom. The right of life, liberty and the PURSUIT of happiness, not the guarantee of happiness. The FREEDOM to worship our God as we see fit, to spend the money that we worked hard for, as we see fit. This is a time in our lives that we must stand against the tyrannies of our country, so that our children and grandchildren, can understand what our fathers, grandfathers and founding fathers were willing to sacrifice their fortunes and their lives to defend.
God speed,
Jason

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Dave in FL

March 10, 2009

HI Chris,
I believe freedom is a blessing given to me by GOD. He has blessed me because of my fathers and grandfathers and because I have given my life to him. William Wallace may have fought to be free, I would add to be free to worship GOD. Freedom is nothing without GOD. As many teachers of GOD’s WAY have said -Seek ye first the Kingdom of GOD and then all things will be added unto you. Many times I think the USA has become an idol that people worship.

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dean clouse

March 10, 2009

Chris, I wanted to comment, but I found out that you already had three commenters. I guess I’ll have to wait for the next one. Yah, right.
Freedom is the ability to raise my children the way I deem best. If I want to educate them the way I feel they should be educated, I shouldn’t have government agents asking questions and wanting proof.
Freedom is owning a variety and numerous self-defense weapons without governments permission or knowledge. Why should I need any persons permission to have a weapon to defend my family and property?
Freedom is the ability to live past embryo stage so I can live a life of freedom (you know, the right to LIFE, liberty and pursuit of happiness).
Freedom is the ability for my pastor to run his church without government regulations, say what he wants to say from the pulpit even if it against the president and his policies, and also to not need government intrusion in building, maintaining or growing the church.
Freedom is the ability to say what needs to be said, even if unpopular, without interference or worry of lawsuits.
Freedom is the ability to ask our president and congressmen questions and ACTUALLY GET AN ANSWER. Good grief, we hired you, we want to check up on you. If you guys can call up baseball players, bank managers, and auto execs and expect them to answer to you, you should expect to answer to us!
Freedom is the ability to get a fair and speedy trial (refering to the Duke lacrcoss team).
Freedom is the ability to not lose my house becuase the government thinks they can sell it to a developer and get more money in taxes.
Freedom is not having excessive fines imposed (Virginia had a $1000 extra fine for people who got caught speeding, even 1 mph over!). Cruel and unusual punishment?
Freedom is the ability for my work and pay to benefit me and my family first and not the government mainly.
Freedom is the states making decisions for its citizens unless the U.S. Constitution states the fed govt. has to.
Freedom is a judiciary branch not making law from the bench, and not making decisions based on foreign law.
Freedom is the ability to protect our borders from intruders.
Freedom is the ability to tell other countries no (a hard thing to do when you are borrowing tons of money from them).
Freedom is no debt. It’s the ability to make good on promises, and not promise much. It’s the ability to stop spending more than you make and stop taking from the citizens and calling it revenue.
Freedom is the ability to be born equal, not more equal than others (see Animal Farm).
Freedom is the ability to be in the public (tv, internet, radio, etc.) and say what you deem needs to be said without worry of retribution of the government or elected officials.
Good enough list? I’ll update later if you wish.

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Stan brighton

March 10, 2009

Hi Chris Freedom means to me the right to pray to the god of my choosing to belong to an organization that stand up for principals such as team. I read today that courage is fear that prays. I am honored to be associated with team and strive to let honorable people joint in the battle with us. thank you so much for spreading the truth.

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Carl

March 10, 2009

Chris;
Did you know that the revolutionary war was started over excessive taxation from England.
That tax rate was unthinkably high: 1%.
1/3 of the country wanted to fight for freedom.
1/3 of the country wanted to support England.
1/3 of the country wanted to hide and not be involved and pick the side that won.
Today I fear that 7/8 of the country doesn’t care to be informed.
That leaves 1/8 whom are informed (of which most are cowards and hide in fear).
Chemo-theropy on our country might have worked 50 years ago but I believe we are in a terminal condition right now.
Say your good-byes and put your house in order.
To all readers: Fight with me to make change and to save as many people as we can; or float downstream with the other dead fish; the choice is yours.

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Randy Vander Kolk in the band of brothers

March 10, 2009

Chris,
I couldn’t agree w/ you more I am planning on bringing as many men as I can wakeup, to mens leadership in Saginaw fri. We need to take a stand while we are still a free country. Thanks for all you do!!!! Randy

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Jeff Mann

March 10, 2009

Chris, I think that your words and the above comments say it best . . . I want the FREEDOM to be a part of the Team that will help to take back this Great Country from those who are supposed to be representing us . . . by leading all North Americans to the TRUTH !!
April 1st is the ‘New American Tea Party’ and I, for one, am sending 1600 Penn Ave my one tea bag.
clink – clink … my two cents

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Eric and Rachael Gregory

March 10, 2009

Chris,
Thank you for asking the most valuable question for today. I believe that until a person feels imprisoned or infringed upon, they will not try to escape. Freedom to me starts at the right and ability to think freely.
The media and gov’t wants to control what we think, and they compete for the chance to inform us first. We as parents have the privilege of setting up paradigms and norms for our children, such as church on Sundays or vacation up north, or no TV, or the presence of guns, or whatever we as parents choose to regularly. Freedom to me starts with the privilege to decide my own paradigms, and those of my family. We as a nation have held a paradigm from the first settlers on our shores, to the colonists, to the pioneers that settled the territories west of the Mississippi, to putting a man on the moon, the American spirit has always said, Yes I can do it myself!
We don’t need the gov’t providing things for us. As far as I am concerned, every little thing they do for us is another little thread wrapped gently around our necks, without us noticing. Bob McCewen (spell check needed) said the best way to take your money is to not let you know they’re doing it. Once the noose is fully in place, Communism will take over.
Freedom lets me associate with others that think the way I do, and does not scold me for wanting to make a difference in my country. Glenn Beck is right. The gov’t works for us. Orrin is right. They will not take care of us, we will take care of them!
May the American dream live on in all of us, and may we all fight for freedom with all that we talk to. Our land will only remain the land of the free and the home of the brave if we fight for the freedom we have been given.
-Edg

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Cathy

March 10, 2009

Chris,
Like Phyllis, I believe freedom is choice, yet I would go further. Freedom is choice, protected by moral authority and upheld by a conscience clear of offense toward myself and other men. What do I mean by this? Allow me to explain.
I have the right as a free person to make choices. The moral authority I am under restricts these choices somewhat. It is the moral authority of God, expressed in His clear revelation of Himself, the Bible. The Bible also teaches there are certain standards I must maintain if I wish to be under God’s moral authority. Under these standards, there is complete freedom of personal self-expression.
The upholding of a clear conscience regarding offense toward myself and other men restricts my freedom even further. This means my freedoms end where the freedoms of others begin. Thus, even in cases where the Bible is unclear or does not specify situations in human relationships, the clear conscience rule applies to offer further restrictions on my freedom. Again, however, there is tremendous freedom within these limits for self-expression.
When I work within these boundaries of moral authority and a clear conscience, I am a happy, productive person, and people around me are happy and productive. When I roam outside them, all sorts of chaos ensues, and I spend countless hours picking up the pieces of my mistakes. Unfortunately, sometimes some pieces can’t be picked up and some things can’t be undone. It is from these I also derive some of the greatest heartaches of my life.
Allow me to illustrate it more practically: I am an artist by avocation. I draw and sometimes paint. When I create, I often limit myself to one media in a drawing, like pencils or chalks. When I paint, I paint only in watercolors. However, within these limitations are incredibly vast arenas for personal self-expression. I get to decide what I draw or paint, and how I think it should look like. I see the vision in my head and put it on the paper. This is what I am talking about when I discuss freedom, too.
Here’s another example: At other times, I paint word pictures and write blog posts or poetry. In the same way, I take the limitations of the 26 letters of our English alphabet, the rules of our American English gramatical structure and spelling and come up with my creations. I work within the limitations to express myself with complete freedom. I get to decide what is written and said, and how it is put together. With my poetry, I even get to decide who reads it. Again, this is what I am talking about when I discuss freedom, too.
We are all unique, God-created individuals, no two of us alike. Within our DNA is a combination never before seen on this planet, and never to be seen again. Each of us was born with incredible potential for the self-expression of the freedoms we were given by our Creator at our conception and birth. And it is only within the limits of the moral authority of God and a clear conscience before ourselves and man that we will find them in their greatest fulfillment.

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Gary S.

March 11, 2009

Chris,
Freedom to me is the ability to live my life in accordance to God’s word without being dragged down into satan’s haven by the agenda driven media that is content in compromising every bit of truth that has ever existed and minimizing it like it has no signifigance. Like you, I will fight to the death if need be because I understand that freedom never comes free. “Your Second Second” will ruffle some feathers because our guns are locked and loaded! I’m proud to be on the battlefield with you!

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Joy Abellana

March 11, 2009

Hi Chris,
In addition to all that has already been stated freedom for me lately has also become:
-Being able to hold opposing views to those of my elected officials and to have the opportunity to vocalize those views and beliefs without fear of censure or harm.
– Being able to meet in public places to have fellowship with others who share my religious beliefs.
– To not be forced out of fear to be one person in public and another in private.
– To step out of my home every morning and not wonder if a suicide bomber is going to target my home or my car.
– To be able to go about my daily life even though my country is at war because brave men and women are doing everything they can to keep others from bringing that war onto our soil.
“This country’s democracy has melted like Chernobyl itself…But perhaps one day the American people will awaken from their pornography and their sports and their entertainments and their baseball and their football and their basketball and their pronography and then they’ll say wait a minute we’re losing our freedoms. I’m not free because I can watch pornography. I’m not free because I can watch sports all day. I’m not free because I can buy as many shirts as I want or different colored cars. I’m actually a slave. They’ve enslaved me with consumerism.” Michael Savage (KNEW 910 AM podcast 3/10/09 hour 2)

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B.Gale

March 11, 2009

Chris,
thank you once again for an insightful article.
As a family we have chosen Freedom as one of our five core values. We define it as:
Money, Time, Options, Righteous Influence, and Accountability.

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Ted

March 11, 2009

Wow Chris, I feal so inadiquate….I have forgoten more than I know, I have read hundreds of books on the time frame of about 1938 to 1945. So much has drained away or been sucked away. I am honored to read your blog and feal so humbled in the light of your wisdom.
I never thought it would come to a time such as this in our country. After all that I know that our fathers(my father)went through I feel ashamed to have been so caught off guard. History has come around and bit mankind in the backside…once again.
This is my wake-up call, lead on my general.
Thanks, Ted

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Bert Fall

March 11, 2009

I agree that freedom is choices. The more choices we have the more free we are. But to go a little deeper than that I believe that freedom is something given to us by our Creator and taken away by our peers. We were meant to live without restrictions and able to choose to do or think whatever we wish. However, we must always keep in mind that our thoughts and actions have consequences. In any civilization the rule of law must be present not to take away our choices but to protect us from wrong choices made by those around us. I love the saying that “your rights end where my property begins.”
Unfortunately, government always has a tendency to encroach upon the rights of others. “The governments natural tendency is to expand it’s power” as Murray Rothbard put it. For this reason the anti-federalists during the early years of our Republic fought hard to add the Bill of Rights to our Constitution. All over the world we can see evidence of peoples rights being ignored or stripped from them, in fact, I was just reading yesterday about the current military crackdown in Tibet. Here’s an excerpt from an AP story.
“Accounts from across Tibetan communities described higher police presence in recent days, though verifying the situation was difficult. Foreign tourists and reporters have been banned from all but a few parts of the area– about a quarter of China’s territory. Internet and mobile phone text-messaging services were also spotty, as authorities tried to deny activists key tools used to spread word of last year’s protests.
Lhasa residents received text messages from service provider China Mobile saying that calls and text messages may experience disruptions between March 10 and May 1 ‘due to network improvement.”
This sort of control is the product of a Communist government that has grown unchecked. It seems that the more socialist a country is, the more things like this tend to happen. It happens significantly less in the United States because of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights but that doesn’t mean that we are totally free from oppression. Most citizens and few politicians have never even read the document which outlines the powers of the government, therefore they either have no idea or know there will be few consequences for operating outside the confines of the Constitution.
Freedom is being able to travel to other parts of the country without an ID, it’s being able to OWN land, it’s being able to burn leaves on that land, it’s being able to talk to anyone you want and to even voice your opinion about anything you want. Freedom is being able to keep the money you’ve earned and spend it how you wish, it’s being able to drive without a seat belt or ride a motorcycle (or bicycle for that matter) without a helmet, and allow people to smoke in your restaurant if you so desire. It’s being able to pray to whatever God you choose, whenever you want to whether it’s in a school or not. It’s the ability to show pride and devotion to your country by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
But with freedom also comes responsibility. We must always keep in mind that our freedom doesn’t mean that we have the right to infringe upon the freedom of others and vice-versa. We also have the responsibility to defend freedom. Sometimes with force but most often with our voices. Continuous learning is the foundation of a free society. Thomas Jefferson once said “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
Americans are a bold people by nature. We’ve sailed across uncharted seas, we’ve trekked through undiscovered wilderness, we’ve even walked on the surface of the moon. I’d like to close with one more quote from Jefferson. “Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty.” We have never been a nation of timid men, though we are turning into one. Freedom is not something to fear, it’s something to hold dear.

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Chrissy

March 12, 2009

Freedom to me is the ability to make choices within God’s written reason. My brain doesn’t function in depth as it did once; thank you all ahead of me for being more precise.

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Lydia

March 13, 2009

I believe the biblical concept is not the freedom to do whatever I want but to live the way I ought, according to the moral law revealed in the Word of God. True freedom is tied to obedience to the external standard revealed to us by our Creator. I fall short of freedom when I think poorly, or make bad decisions, including the decision to disobey the standard. I enjoy true freedom when my life is aligned with the One who made me to live in the truth, which sets me free! A country which violates the moral law, or has no regard for it will never be completely free!

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John Dickinson – Team One Purpose!

April 9, 2009

Chris,
Freedom to me is the ability to choose the best for myself and my family within my self-imposed moral guidelines in accordance with gospel principles.
Freedom to my wife Faith is having everything taken care of at home (e.g. no debt, the house is in order, etc.) and being able to travel wherever you want, with whomever you want, and whenever you want.
Freedom to my friend Richard is being allowed to achieve his potential, even if it is failure.
Thanks for the thinking exercise!
John

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Lynda Varada

September 17, 2015

One way to look at legislation is to ask whether this law rewards personal responsibility or diminishes/removes/destroys the consequences of irresponsible behavior. Anything in the latter seems to support a nanny state run by elites who treat us as if we are too stupid to know better, but the former provides freedom and opportunity to those who learn self control, discipline and basic anger management, I agree with Chris in what the role of government ought to serve. A government that wants to grow and expand needs people who assume little personal responsibility so they [the government] can have unending job security taking care of all of them. Life Leadership provides the very best medium for personal growth and financial freedom. Anyone who feels stuck in their circumstances can change their lot in life. That’s what freedom means to me!

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