Freedom stands for something greater than just the right to act however we choose. it stands for securing that everyone has an equal opportunity for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
To most reasonable people, freedom means more than just ‘free to do whatever I want’. Taken literally, that approach would produce anarchy—every man, woman, and child for himself or herself. Fortunately, none of us has to live that way, unless in Syria, Somalia or any other disaster area.
Freedom does mean the right to do as one pleases to think, believe, speak, worship or not, move about, gather, and generally act as you choose, but only until your choices start to infringe on another person’s freedom.
This still leaves a great deal of latitude. There is a long list of things that one can say freely that excludes shouting FIRE inside a crowded theater.
City Images looks forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way.
The third is freedom from want—which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants.
The fourth is freedom from fear—which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor.
That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation.
Securing freedom from fear and freedom from want is very likely to entail some collective, organized action. That kind of activity is often carried out most effectively and efficiently (although, admittedly, not perfectly) by the government. If we want to live in a society where freedoms are protected and where the opportunity to exercise freedom is assured, we have to rely on some form of governance. So far, liberal representative democracy seems to do the best job of it.
Note also that Roosevelt spoke in “world terms.” He and his colleagues including his wife, Eleanor, one of the greatest women of the 20th century operated according to a vision in which the United States belonged to a family of nations. This family was interdependent, cooperative, and shared common values. The U.S., in their eyes, would act as a member of that family a leading member, to be sure, but not a belligerent or domineering one.
There is nothing mysterious about the foundations of a healthy and strong democracy. The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple. They are:
Equality of opportunity for youth and for others.
Jobs for those who can work.
Security for those who need it.
The ending of special privilege for the few.
The preservation of civil liberties for all.
The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living.
Some say it is having the ability to act or change without constraint. Something is "free" if it can change easily and is not constrained in its present state as long as laws are not broken.
Freedom of the press
Freedom of petition
Freedom of religion
Freedom of speech
Freedom to assemble peacefully
If you were to only pick one, would it be smart to pick freedom of speech so you could speak out to get the other freedoms?