What is Freedom?

There are enough definitions of the term 'freedom' to satisfy everyone, but the definition that seems to make the most sense to me is . . . well . . . my own. After all, I like the idea of having the freedom to define what I believe freedom really means.

Freedom is the right to be left alone by others, particularly the government.  It is the right to do what you want to do with your life, your business, and just about anything you can imagine, as long as it doesn't harm others in any real way. For example, if my religion believes that same-sex marriage is a sin, then I should have the freedom not to be forced in sanctioning the wedding by my actions. Just as same-sex marriage should not be forbidden by law.

And governments should protect us from people and organizations that want to take that freedom of our beliefs from us. That is the one thing I see as government responsibility: protection of its citizens.

Overall, we ought to be able to lead our lives without some schmuck telling us how to go about the task of leading it. Someone telling us we must photograph their wedding, or bake a cake with a Nazi swastika because they happen to be a Nazi, or anything that goes against our personal beliefs is the opposite of freedom and must not be permitted.

Would you force a Halal catering company to cater a Bar Mitzvah or bake a gay wedding cake? Just try it--I can hear the scream of "Allahu Akbar!" now.

Regulations should be seen as policies that protect society, not a list of "musts" created by some low self-esteem dork who creates rules and regulations just to feel powerful and controlling. What regulations mainly do is stifle job growth because nobody wants to open a lemonade stand if they must fill out 23 pages of paperwork in triplicate. 

The same may be said about taxes. The government wants your money so they can squander it on some pork barrel project that ends up wasting millions.

Or politicians want your tax money so they can fly for free on vacation or vote themselves a raise.

Of course, some regulations are needed, but most of them are as useful as a fly-swatter to a frog. We need to be rid of stupid regulations immediately.

So if unions insist that it should be mandatory to join, then that union is trying to take away your freedom not to join. It's no different from Obamacare.

We need less government, and more freedom. 

In this digital age, we could easily get a popular consensus on many issues that affect us on a state level, so the federal government can be made much smaller, used primarily for national security and infrastructure.

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