A time came when the only people who had ever been free began to ask : What is freedom? Who wrote its articles-the strong or the weak? Was it an absolute good? Could there be such a thing as unconditional freedom, short of anarchy? Given the answer to be no, then was freedom an eternal truth or a political formula? Since it was clear to reason that freedom must be conditioned, as by self-discipline, individual responsibility and many necessary laws of restraint ; and since there was never in the world an absolute good, why should people not be free to say they would have less freedom in order to have more of some other good?

Download The Peoples Pottage-Garet Garrett-1958