Because if you lived, as I did, several years under Nazi totalitarianism, and then 20 years in communist totalitarianism, you would certainly realize how precious freedom is, and how easy it is to lose your freedom.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I have lived under totalitarian Communism, so I prize freedom as much as anyone and have long fought for freedom of conscience and speech.
Also, when you escape a Communist regime, you treasure liberty and you understand that as government and state expand, liberty must contract.
Having lived through the transition from totalitarianism, I am acutely mindful of the need to never take for granted the basic freedoms of thought, expression and belief that democracy brings.
I grew up in a socialist country. And I have seen what that does to people. There is no hope, no freedom. No pride in achievement.
Real freedom is creative, proactive, and will take me into new territories. I am not free if my freedom is predicated on reacting to my past.
Why is freedom such a hard sell? That's the question. In this country, why has the idea of individual liberty and responsibility become such a hard sell? That's something I never thought would happen here.
Freedom means the opportunity to be what we never thought we would be.
Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.
Capitalism offers you freedom, but far from giving people freedom, it enslaves them.
For you who no longer posses it, freedom is everything, for us who do, it is merely an illusion.