Freedom is a very interesting and terrifying concept because, in part, we don't fully understand the implications of what it means to be free.

Freedom's definition is the ability to act, speak, or think a particular way, regardless of what that entails. Everyone cries and cries about their freedom being impaired and yes, they are right. All of them. Including those that a society deems evil.

What is a law? A law is a restriction on an individual's freedom by an authority with the most firepower at the moment, the entity that stays in control over you because it has a near monopoly on force.This is what a state is. It does not matter if you consent to the laws, or agree with them. Because now your life is on the line. The State is an an apparatus by which you are a slave.

Many in America believe they are, in fact, free. This isn't without some truth. America is one of the few states, if not the only state, with such freedoms granted to its people, or rather, many of the typical abilities of a state removed or severely limited.

You cannot be truly free within a country. But, even if all existing states were to be dismantled tomorrow, you are more likely than not to wind up under the rule of yet another state. Do not kid yourself, you are mostly not barbarian king potential. Most people aren't. And such a state of existence would be the most violent and terrible time since the bronze age collapse.

You are not truly free, no you will not ever truly be free. Not even in America. Think you can speak freely? Nope, you cannot lie or profit off of a lie. You cannot consume whatever product you desire, whether that product be a plant such as cocaine, the flesh between the legs of a woman or man, or viewing certain depraved forms of pornography.

Keep in mind, this is not support of the consumption of such materials. Merely an acknowledgment that under our current state of being, you are not free to engage in such things, lest you incur the wrath of the State. Your freedom is invariably curtailed.

And yet, Americans continue to insist, in an almost obsessive way, to give the State more and more control over one's life. Welfare is just one of the more obvious forms. You have the right to arms under the 2nd Amendment of your constitution, and yet you allow not only your little firearms to be taken away bit by bit, but allow the State to take your blades and other weapons. To allow a public space to ban a constitutional right under the guise of 'protection,' usually, but most often under the supposed rights of the public space.

There can be no state of freedom with the existence of a state. Only conditions in which you are more free. The question isn't whether you should give up or limit a freedom or security, but to what extent you're willing to do so.