Peaceful revolution possible, preferable
Thomas Jefferson’s oft-quoted maxim that “the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants,” has been debunked by events in Egypt, says Timothy Egan in the...
View ArticlePeople choose utopia over liberty
Gary Galles argues in The Christian Science Monitor that restricting free trade can only cause harm in the effort to reach unattainable utopian goals, which to many people seem much more attractive...
View ArticleA case for the right to be left alone
The fight over Obamacare is about freedom from shared responsibility, says Dahlia Lithwick in Slate. It’s about freedom from obligations to one another, freedom from the modern world, and freedom to be...
View ArticleDon’t tell us what to eat
“The expansion of freedom in matters of sex has coincided with a shrinkage in matters of health,” says Steve Chapman in the Chicago Tribune. Banning large sugar-laden drinks unjustly enforces “one...
View ArticleLiberty too expensive a price for security
Our Founding Fathers believed liberty was “an imperative,” and its price was “discomfort, danger, and even, to borrow from Patrick Henry, death,” says Charles Cooke in the National Review. For...
View ArticleHow to diagnose a paranoid libertarian
What separates paranoid libertarians from libertarians is the former’s unwavering belief in the tyranny of government and the conviction that they are being targeted by government for abuse, says Cass...
View ArticleLiberty shouldn’t trump right to safety
Issues related to gun safety, unhealthy food consumption and drug, alcohol, or tobacco addiction all have in common powerful corporate interests that work hard to defend the freedom to engage in...
View ArticleGun marches a poor way to defend liberty
“I can think of a lot of good ways to celebrate liberty. Intimidating my neighbors with my guns isn’t one of them,” writes Tom Young for Huffington Post, responding to gun activists who “celebrate...
View ArticleCan tea party, progressives meet on liberty?
“If you’re willing to listen carefully to the continuing argument, you can hear a real overlap between two contending ideas, the tea party and the Progressive versions of American liberty,” writes...
View ArticleReligious liberty includes Women’s Equality Act
As a Unitarian Universalist lay community minister, I believe in religious liberty and reproductive justice. That’s why I support the full Women’s Equality Act, which protects a women’s human and civil...
View ArticleGiving into fear allows terrorists to be victors
I applaud the Times Union for its editorial “Let Syrian refugees come,” Nov. 19. Thank you for the reminder that we have a strict and time-tested process and policy for admitting refugees. The big...
View ArticleBarring refugees is anti-American
A presidential decision was recently made to allow 10,000 Syrian refugees to be accepted in America. In response, 30-plus state governors announced that they will not allow any of these people to enter...
View ArticleGun ownership trumps right to live
We live with gun violence because politicians, the National Rifle Association and the Supreme Court have decided the right to own a gun is greater than the right not to get shot by one, writes Mark...
View ArticleAmerica, welcome Syrian refugees
With civil war raging against the Bashar al-Assad regime and ISIS engaging in their campaign of terror and murder in Syria, it’s easy to understand why millions are searching for safe haven in other...
View ArticleEmphasize ‘liberty’ and ‘justice for all’ in pledge
I was in Roman Catholic elementary school during the years following the addition of the phrase “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance, and I still can recall that the nuns encouraged us to emphasize...
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