Hola SDAI,

You say, >"If I ever want to live a life of casual drug use, pedophilia, indolence and perversity - hey Holland is the place to go!"

Well, de gustibus non est disputandum, I always say. (But then I say it so ebnelson won't have a clue as to what I am talking about.)

If you would pretend to be a liberal for a short time you might recognize its positive dimension.

This is the sense in which freedom is a positive power or ability to do something.

You would have to admit that if a child is born into poverty, with no real opportunity to escape, is not truly free to grow and develop to the full exstent of his or her abilities.

If you can allow yourself to admit this, if you value individual liberty you will want to take steps to overcome the circumstances---poverty, ignorance, illness and prejudice among them--that pose such formidable obstacles to positive freedom.

This means that society, acting through the agency of government, should take steps to promote the welfare of its people---and do so in the name of individual liberty.

Take a small forward step, SDAI.

Publius