QUESTION

Does freedom come from an absence of government?

Depends on how you define freedom. Look at Somalia. No government there. People are certainly free to do what they want there but are the people there free?

Alice, my favorite songwriter/poet, Kris Kristofferson once wrote, "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose," but even if he's right, it's something we all seem to want.

I don't think it comes from an absence of government. I think that order and structure are necessary parts of life. Repressive order is a bad thing, and we can certainly have too much government, but that doesn't mean the absence of government is a good thing, either. I think we need a balance between freedom and order.

It's like language. Words, just by themselves, don't have a lot of meaning. You have to put them in sentences, and sentences need the words placed in a certain order. So, we have to accept the restrictions placed upon us by the requirements of language if we are to communicate. We are "governed" by the laws of language. However, in following the laws, we do not lose any freedom. We are still free to express any idea we can possible come up with. It is the order and structure of the sentence that creates the freedom to say whatever we want to say.

Just my thoughts.

Ann

I don't think absence of government brings freedom. Without law and order, what would freedom mean? Living in fear?

Freedom, to me, iis the right to do what you want to yourself. Be that having a drink or standing in the rain. A government becomes repressive when it takes those rights away from the individual. The law should only apply to those thing where one person may cause problems for another. This is why I believe in the right of others to choose life or death and I see tha Western governments as wrong for denying the rights of God gave us Free Will.