Just another word?

27 ways to say FREEDOM

“May you live in interesting times.” The not-so-subtle irony of the famous “Chinese curse” is one that may or may not have escaped most adult Americans living today. As the youngest superpower, our formative history is still on an accelerated arc and only now can begin to see, if we’re really looking, where our lasting mark may be made in the grand scheme of the institution known as civilization. Born of a desire to be free from the shackles of economic and religious oppression, some would argue that the evolution of the United States mirrors that of the Roman Republic. We have fought past Monarchy to Republic, with the mainstays of Empire threatening encroachment.

And yet we claim to honor, above all else, freedom; a word so evocative, so personal, that no person living is without feelings on the subject. For this story, Vital asked men and women from across the political and social spectrum to tell us what freedom means to them. Interestingly, and surely by coincidence, none of the women we approached desired to participate. And with the exception of Scott Walker, nobody with an ostensibly conservative view, including Charlie Sykes and Mark Belling, wanted to tell us how they feel about freedom. Perhaps in the latter case there was mistrust about how their words might be taken out of context. That’s my guess, anyway, and it’s too bad.

So while this might be yet another lost opportunity for meaningful non-partisan exploration of a higher ideal, it is an interesting snapshot of the ways in which many of us think about freedom. Send us your own thoughts – we’ll post them on our website with this story. Just email me at . —Jon Anne Willow

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.—BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

As an American, I am deeply proud of our nation’s commitment to freedom. It remains one of our greatest sources of strength and inspiration, and defines us as a nation.

Our Founders lived in dangerous times, and they risked everything to build a new nation that would safeguard individual liberties. They wrote a Constitution of limited powers and an explicit Bill of Rights to protect liberty in times of war, as well as in times of peace. Today America remains a symbol of liberty for people in many other nations. But we cannot truly be a beacon of freedom for the world unless we lead by example and protect our own freedoms here at home. When our commitment to freedom is tested, we cannot surrender the core values of our country. As new challenges present themselves, it is then that we must also redouble our vigilance to preserve the basic rights that make us who we are.—U.S. SENOTAR RUSS FEINGOLD

Liberty has never come from the government.  Liberty has always come from the subjects of it.  The history of liberty is a history of resistance. —WOODROW WILSON Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.—ABRAHAM LINCOLN

In this country we have rights and opportunities that the vast majority of people in the world can only imagine: We have freedom. Our Bill of Rights is fundamental to what defines America, and the reason the United States has always been a beacon of hope to those who are oppressed. In America, we believe all citizens should have the freedom to develop our skills and talents, to pursue our goals and to raise our families and practice our faiths – equally and without limits.

Freedom is the cornerstone that upholds our nation. It is the guidepost that allows us to tackle the issues of an ever-changing world. And it is easy to take for granted. It’s good to remind ourselves that freedom makes this country the greatest in the world, and that it comes at a cost. Countless brave men and women have fought fiercely to protect the rights we receive at birth that so many others are denied. That dedication to freedom defines America.—U.S. SENATOR HERB KOHL

We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.—EDWARD R. MURROW Most people want security in this world, not liberty. —H.L. MENCKEN

Freedom. The word itself tastes good rolling around inside your mouth. It brings with it powerful images and historical references that can motivate, inspire and move an individual or a nation to greatness. It also brings with it an enormous level of responsibility that few of us are equipped to shoulder.

Thankfully, freedom is an illusion. None of us is truly free, and none of us wants to be. In this, the “land of the free,” we are constantly reminded how far from freedom we actually are. Signs mandating everything from seat belt use to where the line forms surround us. And we follow. Because we don’t want to be free. We don’t want the responsibility, because we wouldn’t know what to do with it.

I wanted to end this with an historical quote on freedom. But as I searched my memory, only one kept resonating: “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”—MICHAEL GULL, COMIC

My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular. —ADLAI STEVENSON Liberty doesn’t work as well in practice as it does in speeches. —WILL ROGERS

Freedom is such an essential component of our lives as Americans that, in the interest of space, I am going to focus on how our concept of freedom is a debt we owe to the millions of men and women who have sacrificed for us.

I feel an overwhelming debt of gratitude and a sense of awe at the husbands and wives, sons and daughters and sisters and brothers who have agreed to serve in our armed forces to protect this precious concept of freedom. Each has their own concept of what that freedom means, but they understand that freedom is too important to squander.

I am so grateful to those brave men and women and I am so glad that we can, in a small way, recognize our men and women in the armed forces with our annual Operation Freedom event at the Milwaukee County Zoo on July 2.—MILWAUKEE COUNTY EXECUTIVE SCOTT WALKER

He that would make his own liberty secur, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself. —THOMAS PAINE

Like a coin, freedom has two sides.

On one side there is the face of license, predicated on both will and reason – the capacity to act and the ability to define and devise solutions to the challenges life presents us. Included in this license is the right not to be right.

The other side is stamped with responsibility. The responsibilities are many. Chief among them are the responsibility to exercise our freedom through such mundane actions as voting and – perhaps the supreme responsibility – to not interfere with the freedom of others as long they do not interfere with the freedom of others.

Of all the gifts of our nation’s heritage, freedom is the most precious. Take care to spend it wisely.—VINCE O'HERN, PUBLISHER & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, MADISON ISTHMUS

We must be free not becaus we claim freedom, but because we practice it. -WILLIAM FAULKNER

Freedom is the liberty to live without fear and the ability to grasp opportunities, grow and excel. Since becoming Governor, I have made it my top priority to ensure that people all across this great state have the freedom to enjoy everything that life in Wisconsin has to offer. From making health care and education more affordable to ensuring that our first responders have the necessary tools and funding to keep our communities safe, I have worked hard to create opportunities for Wisconsin families to live where they love – right here in Wisconsin – and to realize their potential in going as far as their talent and hard work will take them.—WISCONSIN GOVERNOR JIM DOYLE

Liberty: one of Imagination's most precious possessions.-AMBROSE BIERCE

LIVIN ENTROPY, collapsing back on itself.

The state of absolute movement, effortlessly, between the symbolic orders and relationships organized by habit and laziness, yet to hum with absolute stillness when the belligerent violence of anarchy touches your mind. It is constantly becoming; like a ripening fruit it must be devoured before it is renewed. Freedom is an entertainment of desire, a play on grace. Our hearts are not free. They are bound up inextricably in love for our fellow women and men, those oppressed every-which-where. It flows like water through rusted pipes, about to burst. Freedom is also guilt, a come-on, a prison, a cold one, the blank page – wrapping paper covering a box that’s never been opened.—CHARLES HOEHNEN, VITAL SOURCE ADMINISTRATOR

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it. —THOMAS PAINE

THERE ARE countless ways one could define and describe freedom, but you don’t need to be Thomas Jefferson to agree that free will and the right to pursue it are important elements. And generally, freedom is a pretty good thing.

But we must also acknowledge the dangers of free will, particularly when those dangers run counter to the greater good of the society that ultimately protects freedom. People are free to speak their minds and pursue their dreams, yes, but they are also free not to, which means people are free to be ignorant, selfish, socially absent and morally disengaged.

People are free to not care for their fellow citizen or the welfare of their community. In a world rife with poverty, hunger, disease, war, hate and violence, even something as noble and beautiful as freedom can be a dangerous obstacle to social progress.

Perhaps this is why George Bernard Shaw observed, “Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.”—LEFTY MCTIGHE, VITAL SOURCE WE THE PEOPLE COLUMNIST

Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better. —ALBER CAMUS

I AM fascinated with the personal freedoms we either enjoy or abuse. It is about the freedom of making choices and taking responsibility for those choices. It is about the “little freedoms” we face every day.

The selfish abuse of personal freedom is a way of life for few but affects many… freedoms not connected to the law but shot thru the prism of common sense. We have the freedom to make thoughtful or thoughtless choices. We have the freedom to educate children with dignity or indifference. We have the freedom to treat each other with respect or contempt.

We can choose to be empathetic or self-centered. We have the freedom to enhance or diminish the human experience. We make those choices many times every day. Some choices made are amazing, others are sadly embarrassing. Either way, those choices deeply affect us all.—BOB REITMAN, 94.5 WKTI

No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without last finding the other end fastened about his own neck. -FREDERICK DOUGLASS

IT IS difficult to say exactly what freedom is or what freedom even means to me personally. What does it mean to be free? And can true freedom ever actually be attained?

As an African-American these two questions are more than a mere academic exercise. The black experience in the U.S. has been one that has been defined by a preoccupation with freedom. Freedom and what it means to be free has been very much a work in progress, from the desire not to be enslaved in early days of the Republic to not being the victim of Jim Crow laws in the 60s. A static definition of freedom is therefore unworkable. Freedom can only be viewed along a continuum.

So, for me, freedom is a garden that requires constant tending. It requires the periodic pulling of the weeds of hegemony and tyranny. But perhaps most of all it requires frequent fertilizing with political discourse and political action.—FRIZELL BAILEY, VITAL SOURCE COMMENTARY COLUMNIST

If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too. -SOMERSET MAUGHAM

We have to call it "freedom." Who'd want to die for "a lesser tyranny?" -MIGNON MCLAUGHLIN

I COULD talk predictably about freedom, but personally I feel too much attention is given to its literal definition over what it really represents. We may also talk about freedom within the context of the social, economic and political aspects of democracy, more so the Western perception of democracy, or simply extrapolate the impact of the pursuit of freedom on humanity as a whole, outside the bounds of one socio-political doctrine or another. At any rate, this would be beyond the scope of this writing; my penny’s worth on the subject. All I can offer is that it has been denied under the pretext of its very safeguarding too many times by all sorts of corrupt governances, which in itself is a redundant statement, since I don’t know of any that has not been or isn’t corrupt. The rhetoric of freedom is often co-opted by those who use it to take away that which is, or at least should be, the essential tenet of our existence. —MEHRDAD DALAMINE, CO- PUBLISHER, VITAL SOURCE

We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.—JOHN F. KENNEDY

 

Jon Anne Willow is Editor and Co-Publisher of Vital Source. She has been a freelance writer and editor for over 20 years, first published in Highlights magazine at the age of ten. So far, this is her only national writing credit.