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Liberty is a loaded word

Just about everyone is for it, but we mean different things by it – whether it be the freedom of independence or the absence of coercive constraint

8 March 2025

9:00 AM

8 March 2025

9:00 AM

Liberty as Independence Quentin Skinner

CUP, pp.332, 35

Just about everyone is for liberty, but we mean different things by it. Far-right libertarians want almost all constraints on their actions removed. They desire free markets, no unions, low taxes, free speech and the freedom to be very rich. The oppressed want freedom from tyranny: in extremis, they want to be free from jail and free to live without the threat of arbitrary arrest and torture.

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