Freedom means that every person has the right to choose what kind of community to live in.
People who want to live in a community where guns are legal should be allowed to live in a community where guns are legal. People who want to live in a community where guns are not legal should be allowed to live in a community where guns are not legal.
People who want to live in a community where abortion is legal should be allowed to live in a community where abortion is legal. People who want to live in a community where abortion is not legal should be allowed to live in a community where abortion is not legal.
People who want to live in a community where recreational drugs are legal should be allowed to live in a community where recreational drugs are legal. People who want to live in a community where recreational drugs are not legal should be allowed to live in a community where recreational drugs are not legal.
People who want to live in a community where the government taxes the rich and gives to the poor should be allowed to live in a community where the government taxes the rich and gives to the poor. People who want to live in a community where the government does not tax the rich and give to the poor should be allowed to live in a community where the government does not tax the rich and give to the poor.
People who want to live in a community where the government requires everyone to follow a particular religion should be allowed to live in a community where the government requires everyone to follow that particular religion. People who want to live in a community where the government outlaws all religions should be allowed to live in a community where the government outlaws all religions.
People who want to live in a racist community should be allowed to live in a racist community. People who want to live in a community where racism is not legal should be allowed to live in a community where racism is not legal.
People who want to live in a communist community should be allowed to live in a communist community. People who want to live in a capitalist community should be allowed to live in a capitalist community.
People who want to live in a community with no government at all should be allowed to live in a community with no government at all.
People who want to live in no community at all should be allowed to live in no community at all.
Any nation which does not recognize the right to choose what kind of community to live in is not a free nation.
Socialists say they are in favor of freedom. Socialists say giant corporations control the universe, and control what stores exist and what products people buy. Socialists want to be free from being forced to shop at stores chosen by big business. Socialists want to be free from being forced to buy products chosen by big business. But the socialists' solution is to outlaw those stores and those products, which would deny other people the freedom to choose to shop at those stores or buy those products. The socialists would deny other people the freedom to shop in giant shopping malls or to eat at fast food restaurants. The socialists want to prohibit businesses from outsourcing to low wage nations, which would deny poor people in other nations the freedom to work for multinational businesses. The socialist, like the racists, want the freedom to enslave other people.
Fascists say they are in favor of freedom. Fascists want to be free of immorality, free of abortion, free of pornography, and free of recreational drugs. But if any community wants to legalize abortion, pornography, or recreational drugs; then the fascists ask the central government to overrule the community and prevent the community from legalizing abortion, pornography, or recreational drugs. Fascists want to deny other people the freedom to live in a community which allows abortion, pornography, or recreational drugs.
Libertarians say they are in favor of freedom. Libertarians want to be free to use recreational drugs, free to possess guns, free of government land use regulation, and free of taxes. But if any community wants to ban guns, to ban recreational drugs, to impose land use regulation, or to increase taxes; the libertarians ask the central government to overrule the community and prevent the community from banning guns, from banning recreational drugs, from imposing land use regulation, or from increasing taxes. Libertarians want to deny other people the freedom to live in a community which bans recreational drugs, bans guns, imposes land use regulations, or imposes high taxes.
Many people want freedom for themselves, and for people like themselves, but not for people who are different from themselves. Many people think the government should force everyone else to be just like themselves.
Socialists think the government should force everyone to be socialist. Fascists think the government should force everyone to be fascist. Libertarians think the government should force everyone to be libertarian.
Many people think that a nation cannot function unless all the people are very similar, and therefore the government should unify the nation by forcing everyone to be just like everyone else.
When the first socialists began to plan their ideal socialist society, they assumed that everyone would become a socialist. So there was no place in the ideal socialist society for nonsocialists. But when socialists succeeded at taking over the governments of some nations, the socialists found that not everyone became socialist. So the socialist tried to force everyone to become socialist. And when that failed, the socialists tried to kill all the nonsocialists.
The original plan for the ideal socialist society did not include killing all the nonsocialists. The original plan for the ideal socialist society did not include forcing all the nonsocialists to become socialist. Many socialists were appalled when socialist governments began oppressing and killing nonsocialists. But the original plan for the ideal socialist society assumed that everyone would become socialist, and assumed that there would be no nonsocialists. The socialists wanted a society with no nonsocialists, and the only way to create a society with no nonsocialists is to kill all the nonsocialists.
Today socialists still want a society with no nonsocialists. Socialists say they are opposed to mass murder, but the only way to create a society with no nonsocialists is to kill all the nonsocialists.
Fascists want to create a society with no nonfascists. Fascists say they are opposed to mass murder, but the only way to create a society with no nonfascists is to kill all the nonfascists.
Libertarians want to create a society with no nonlibertarians. Libertarians say they are opposed to mass murder, but the only way to create a society with no nonlibertarians is to kill all the nonlibertarians.
Consider these two statements:
I hate brocoli.
We should kill everyone who likes brocoli.
If the government forces everyone to be just like everyone else,
then those two statements mean the same thing.
Any fascist who does not respect the right of other people to be socialist or libertarian is a threat to freedom. Any socialist who does not respect the right of other people to be fascist or libertarian is a threat to freedom. Any libertarian who does not respect the right of other people to be fascist or socialist is a threat to freedom.
If the government forces everyone to be just like everyone else, then any person who is different from you is a danger to you, because the different person is probably asking the government to force you to become like the different person. That will probably fail, and then the different person may try to kill you. So you probably want to kill the different person before the different person kills you.
But if the government does not force everyone to be just like everyone else, then a person who is different from you is not a danger to you, and there is no reason to kill people who are different from you.
Freedom means the government does not force everyone to be just like everyone else. There is no freedom unless people have the right to be different from everybody else. There is no freedom unless you respect the right of other people to be different from you.