Welcome to the West, where freedom isn’t good enough anymore

Western civilization has contributed many of the world’s best ideas on liberty, freedom, individual rights and government. The ideas passed down to us by our ancestors have helped make our societies livable, prosperous, free and perhaps most telling of all, eminently desirable to immigrants. But somewhere along the line, our traditional understanding of freedom stopped being good enough for Westerners. Westerners moved from our older focus on “negative” freedoms, freedoms that gave us some sort of guarantee against government such as freedom from religious persecution, freedom from censorship of speech and freedom from unfair trials, to a new focus on “positive” freedoms, freedoms that give us some sort of guarantee from government such as social welfare (freedom from want) and nationalized health insurance (freedom from need). This positive vs. negative freedom thread popped up in more than a few news stories today, which you can follow after the jump.

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