Conditional and unconditional liberty
May. 23rd, 2009 10:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catecumenI passed a sign on a church today that said, "If we forget the fallen hero, we forfeit our right to liberty."
But did our fallen heroes die for conditional liberty?
Did they fight and die for a freedom which depends upon our doing or saying or thinking what someone else considers to be the right thing?
Did they fight and die for the freedom to behave correctly (according to the definitions created by whoever is running things at the moment)?
Or did they, perhaps, fight and die for the kind of freedom which would be recognized as the unconditional right of everyone, a right to be extended even to those with whom we disagree?
But did our fallen heroes die for conditional liberty?
Did they fight and die for a freedom which depends upon our doing or saying or thinking what someone else considers to be the right thing?
Did they fight and die for the freedom to behave correctly (according to the definitions created by whoever is running things at the moment)?
Or did they, perhaps, fight and die for the kind of freedom which would be recognized as the unconditional right of everyone, a right to be extended even to those with whom we disagree?