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June 22, 2005

Is U.S.-Style Liberty A Priority For Most Of The World?

Chicago Sun-Times Columnist Neil Steinberg offered an interesting view on "liberty" in his June 22, 2005 column. He wrote:

Is liberty really "the universal longing of every soul," as Condoleezza Rice told an audience in Egypt this week? Or is that belief merely our gosh-darn American presumption leading us astray again?

Because, frankly, when I look over the wide swoop of human history, I don't see much pining after liberty. I see a whole lot of "let's go kill those guys and take their stuff." I see quite a bit of "let's roll at the feet of that king." But not much "let's promote liberty so that each of us can breathe free.

Mr. Steinberg, perhaps the Sun-Times' most inflammatory columnist, also said: "Surveying our world today, people seem to leap to put on the chains of some religion or drug or cause. Even in America, the supposed land of liberty, a big chunk of the population is eager to yank the leash the moment somebody tries to use that liberty to do something they don't like." For more, see "Liberty seems pretty far down on world's to-do list."

Posted by Munir Umrani at June 22, 2005 06:45 AM

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