Liberty

"When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon." - Thomas Paine

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"The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty." James Madison

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"Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty." - Plato

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Liberty is a term not used much these days. By definition Liberty is freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or external influence. Liberty implies within its very core that we humans have the ability to choose. We humans were blessed by our Creator, our God, with a body, a mind, a freewill and the freedom to exercise that freewill regardless of the consequence. That freewill is a wonderful and at times incomprehensible example of Gods unselfish love! The founding fathers of the United States thought and wrote about liberty quite often, some may say it consumed them. As you read the Declaration of Independence you are barely past the introduction when Liberty is brought up.

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"We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness....

" - Declaration of Independence July 4th, 1776

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Our liberty expressed through our voting is a very rare and precious gift that very few people enjoy in this world and fewer still have enjoyed throughout history. My prayer is that all people exercising their liberty through their vote will have done so thoughtfully, rationally, and with a clear conscience in harmony with their personal beliefs, morals and vaules.