What is "freedom?"

The writer contends that liberals and conservatives hold fundamentally different views of what "freedom" basically means. For the rich and powerful, "freedom" means "the government will be too small to keep me from doing what I want." For liberals, it means "government will ensure that power is widely and fairly shared."

Quote:

Over the past 250 years, the cry for liberty has also been used by conservatives to defend elite interests. In their view, true freedom is not about collective control over government; it consists in the private enjoyment of one’s life and goods. From this perspective, preserving freedom has little to do with making government accountable to the people. Democratically elected majorities, conservatives point out, pose just as much, or even more of a threat to personal security and individual right—especially the right to property—as rapacious kings or greedy elites. This means that freedom can best be preserved by institutions that curb the power of those majorities, or simply by shrinking the sphere of government as much as possible.

Discuss.

via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/2QpADIA