[hmkpoker]

I really, really dislike the word "freedom." I'd actually like for people to just stop using it altogether. It has a range of definitions that are so wide and contradictory that ultimately all it does is act as a euphemism for whatever social norms the speaker is advocating.

Total freedom is not possible. No social system can exist that allows anyone to do anything and have everything with no repurcussions.

Some popular uses of freedom include:

- Capitalistic property rights ("negative" freedom)

- State-sponsored welfare ("positive" freedom)

- The American status quo (I can only guess that this is what Bush means when he talks about "defending freedom")

What ultimately happens is that people abuse the word (since you can win more people over with euphemistic rhetoric than actual logic, hence why ACists prefer to use terms like "liberty" and "freedom" to more specific terms like "capitalism" and "natural selection"), and then their opponents decry their claims by claiming the ACists' system to be insufficient for providing freedom by redefining the word. "How will there be freedom for the poor in AC land? Working all day long to struggle to pay high rent and health insurance and starving to death if they can't hack it? Boy, that doesn't sound like freedom to me!"