What is freedom?

Does freedom mean that we act as we please, regardless of the consequences? Does our own freedom give us the right to abridge the freedom of others?

I have a cousin who's serving in the Marines right now. My son has been besieged by military recruiters. I remember my uncle coming home on leave from Vietnam and how I worked so hard to learn to play the theme from "The Green Berets" to welcome him home. (As a kindergartner I didn't know the difference between the Navy & the Marines - oops!)* I remember elementary school classmates being worried about their fathers over there. I remember the fear I had at the beginning of Gulf I when my husband seriously considered enlisting and carrying on his family's tradition of service. Now I see former students who've served in Gulf I and/or Gulf II who are proud of their service and strong in their conviction that they've defended our freedoms.

We need to remember what freedom is all about. The so-called "Academic Freedom" bills popping up around the country have nothing to do with freedom and everything to do with false populism.

I don't know the original source of this quote but I found it here: