Freedom & Liberty

Freedom
1 : the quality or state of being free: as a : the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action b : liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another
synonyms FREEDOM, LIBERTY, LICENSE mean the power or condition of acting without compulsion. FREEDOM has a broad range of application from total absence of restraint to merely a sense of not being unduly hampered or frustrated <freedom of the press>. LIBERTY suggests release from former restraint or compulsion liberty>. LICENSE implies freedom specially granted or conceded and may connote an abuse of freedom license>.
Liberty
1 : the quality or state of being free: a : the power to do as one pleases b : freedom from physical restraint c : freedom from arbitrary or despotic control d : the positive enjoyment of various social, political, or economic rights and privileges e : the power of choice

In the Letter from the Federal Convention President to the President of Congress, Transmitting the Constitution, the purpose of the Constitution is that “. . .we hope and believe; that it may promote the lasting welfare of that country so dear to us all, and secure her freedom and happiness, is our most ardent wish.” (emphasis added)

In the Preamble, it's stated again, “. . .secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity. . . .”

A Witness And A Warning: President Ezra Taft Benson (October 1979)

I testify to you that God's hand has been in our destiny. I testify that freedom as we know it today is being threatened as never before in our history. I further witness that this land—the Americas—must be protected, its Constitution upheld, for this is a land foreordained to be the Zion of our God. He expects us as members of the Church and bearers of His priesthood to do all we can to preserve our liberty.

(Click here For the whole article.)

President J. Reuben Clark, Jr. said:

"The whole course is deliberately planned and carried out, its purpose is to destroy the Constitution and our constitutional government; then to bring chaos out of which the new Statism, with its Slavery, is to arise, with a cruel, relentless, selfish, ambitious crew in the saddle, riding hard with whip and spur, a red-shrouded band of night riders for despotism.
". . . if we do not vigorously fight for our liberties, we shall go clear through to the end of the road and become another Russia, or worse." (Church News, Sept. 25, 1949.)

David O. McKay:

Our immediate concern, however, is not with parties, groups, or persons, but with principles. We therefore commend and encourage every person and every group who are sincerely seeking to study Constitutional principles and awaken a sleeping and apathetic people to the alarming conditions that are rapidly advancing about us. We wish all of our citizens throughout the land were participating in some type of organized self-education in order that they could better appreciate what is happening and know what they can do about it. (The Improvement Era, June 1966, p. 477.)

Elder Ezra Taft Benson (October 1963)

President McKay speaks of a unity on principles. President Clark said:

"God provided that in this land of liberty, our political allegiance shall run not to individuals, that is, to government officials, no matter how great or how small they may be. Under His plan our allegiance and the only allegiance we owe as citizens or denizens of the United States, runs to our inspired Constitution which God Himself set up. So runs the oath of office of those who participate in government. A certain loyalty we do owe to the office which a man holds, but even here we owe, just by reason of our citizenship, no loyalty to the man himself. In other countries it is to the individual that allegiance runs. This principle of allegiance to the Constitution is basic to our freedom. It is one of the great principles that distinguishes this 'land of liberty' from other countries.
"Thus God added to His priceless blessings to us.
"I wish to say with all the earnestness I possess that when you youth and maidens see any curtailment of these liberties I have named, when you see government invading any of these realms of freedom which we have under our Constitution, you will know that they are putting shackles on your liberty, and that tyranny is creeping upon you, no matter who curtails these liberties or who invades these realms, and no matter what the reason and excuse therefore may be." (The Improvement Era, 43, [July 1940] 444.)

We all should know by now what President McKay has said about liberty-loving peoples' greatest responsibility. We've heard him tell of our drift toward socialism and communism. We know of his feelings regarding recent tragic decisions of the Supreme Court. We know the Church's position supporting right to work laws and the Church's opposition to programs of federal aid to education. These and many more things has President McKay told us that involve the great struggle against state slavery and the anti-Christ. Now, inasmuch as all these warnings have come through the only mouthpiece of the Lord on the earth today there is one major question we should ask ourselves. Assuming we are living a life so we can know, then what does the Holy Spirit have to say about it?
We are under obligation to answer this question. God will hold us responsible.
Let us not be deceived in the sifting days ahead. Let us rally together on principle behind the prophet as guided by the promptings of the Spirit.

Excellent Resources on the Subject

The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty (now just Ideas on Liberty), published by FEE (see below for more info) ~68MB to download. This file is in Folio v4 unbound format. GospeLink '00 and the $3 Church Magazines disk can open it, but CL98 or GospeLink 2001 can't. This file has from 1980 to present, plus all 12 volumes of Essays on Liberty. This is a work in progress. It's also on the web now!

Bruce R. McConkie's Know Your Constitution.
Dallin H. Oak's “Some Responsibilities of Citizenship”
Marion G. Romney's 1966 April Conference address on Socialism

Ezra Taft Benson: 52 April
Ezra Taft Benson: 53 April
Ezra Taft Benson: 54 October
Ezra Taft Benson: 56 October
Ezra Taft Benson: 57 April
Ezra Taft Benson: 58 October
Ezra Taft Benson: 60 April
Ezra Taft Benson: 61 October
Ezra Taft Benson: 62 April
Ezra Taft Benson: 62 October
Ezra Taft Benson: 63 April
Ezra Taft Benson: 65 April
Ezra Taft Benson: 66 October
Ezra Taft Benson: 67 October
Ezra Taft Benson: 68 April
Ezra Taft Benson: 68 October
Ezra Taft Benson: 69 October
Ezra Taft Benson: Civic Standards For The Faithful Saints
Ezra Taft Benson: Our Divine Constitution
Ezra Taft Benson: The Constitution--A Glorious Standard
Ezra Taft Benson: "Watchman, Warn The Wicked"
Ezra Taft Benson: A Witness And A Warning

our_awful_situation.pdf, a collection of quotes provided by someone.
Data Prospecting. They have several products with tons of books in PDF and Folio Views format.
Inspired Constitution.org. LDS books and resources on Freedom and Liberty, from a heaven-inspired angle.
National Center for Constitutional Studies. Originally founded by W. Cleon Skousen, it is a nonprofit educational foundation created to teach the U.S. Constitution in the tradition of America's Founding Fathers.
Constitution Society. Make sure to check out their Liberty Library!
Reason Magazine is a pretty good magazine, that covers a lot of interesting topics, but it's not quite my cup of tea.
Ludwig von Mises Institute is a champion of free markets, and covers a lot of economic issues with the Federal government.
Free-market.net has a ton of information. A good place for a specific topic.
The Constitution Party's homepage. This used to be the US Taxpayers Party.
Alan Keyes campaign page. Check out his speeches section.
Rep. James Traficant, Jr.'s speech to Congress about our nation's money, Congressional Record - March 17, 1993 - Vol. #33, page H-1303
News With Views--Where Reality Shatters Illusion. Great articles about current topics.

FEE, established in 1946 by Leonard E. Read, is a non-political, educational champion of private property, the free market, and limited government. The Freeman is their monthly publication. (Twenty-years worth of articles can be found here.)

A friend of mine, David Wilding, has sparked my interest in these matters. I have been working with FEE, or The Foundation for Economic Education, to convert their nearly 50 years-worth of The Freeman into electronic format. The reason I like FEE, is that they deal with principles, which David O. McKay told us, "Our immediate concern, however, is not with parties, groups, or persons, but with principles. We therefore commend and encourage every person and every group who are sincerely seeking to study Constitutional principles..."

Let me just ask you this: What are you doing to preserve the Freedom that the Constitution was founded for?

If you want a daily reminder, and a place to discuss these issues, join the Freemen.