Quote on the Concept of Freedom - P.J. O'Rourke

P.J. O'Rourke has a sharp tongue, a bane to modern liberalism.

Freedom is not empowerment. Empowerment is what the Serbs have in Bosnia. Anybody can grab a gun and be empowered. It's not entitlement. An entitlement is what people on welfare get, and how free are they? It's not an endlessly expanding list of rights -- the "right" to education, the "right" to health care, the "right" to food and housing. That's not freedom, that's dependency. Those aren't rights, those are the rations of slavery -- hay and a barn for human cattle.

There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you d**n well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.

CATO Institute