Do You Hate Oppression, Or Love Liberty?

September 10, 2008 by Stephen Palmer · 4 Comments

And why does it matter? Is there a difference between the two?

Truth and freedom are synonymous with happiness, for as man aligns his thoughts, speech, and actions with eternal, immutable truth, he discovers personal freedom and is therefore happy; one cannot be free and unhappy simultaneously. Understanding this, we find that mere political freedom is simply one level of freedom on an infinite scale, and is not the ultimate goal of the pursuit of happiness — the former is merely a framework to facilitate the latter.

Many of us make the mistake of pursuing political freedom before internalizing personal integrity. In the pursuit of happiness, the question one must answer is, “Do I love freedom, or do I hate oppression?” On the surface level, these questions appear to be a redundancy, yet what naturally flows from the answers to each are worlds apart in their long-term consequences.