LIBERTY & FREEDOM
Maintained By Consent Of All PRICELESS POSSESSIONS Irresponsibility in the use of the words “liberty” and “freedom” was causing, in these eventful days, misunderstandings among nations and individuals, remarked the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. W. E. Parry, replying to a deputation on Saturday. It was well, specially at present, he said, that the effect of the words “liberty” and “freedom” should be weighed carefully in their social application. Liberty and freedom, added the Minister, were not something that could be served up to the people in the same way as were their meals. Liberty and freedom came from a nation's form of government which had been not only fought for and won, but which was a priceless possession,, kept intact and preserved by the common consent of all. Liberty or freedom of action was vested in the nation and in the individual use of it the right of others should be respected. “The liberty and freedom of a nation,” declared the Minister, “is not something that belongs to the individual personally, to be used or enjoyed by that individual at his own pleasure irrespective of the expense or injury of others. The application of our liberty and freedom of action arc social in effect, and to pursue a course of thought and action which individually we consider to be our right, without any restriction, may become a very disturbing and repugnant antisocial act. The freedom to perform a certain act may be, in effect, despotism to others. "It is true that all of us as individuals have a personal and private liberty which it is our exclusive right to enjoy without interference, but this private and individual freedom must not be confused with that freedom which belongs to the nation—to be preserved, used, and enjoyed by the common consent of all. Freedom and liberty by the common consent of all belongs to all, and should be used and enjoyed by the common consent. It is that kind of freedom and liberty which today we are lighting to defend.”
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Bibliographic details
Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 182, 29 April 1940, Page 7
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341LIBERTY & FREEDOM Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 182, 29 April 1940, Page 7
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