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Today, there is a big push in this country to limit individual freedom/liberty for the good of society. People fear crime and the diminishing of what is called family values. The problem is whose speech should be limited? Atheists may argue that all religious speech should be censored because it is false. Theologians may argue that atheism should be censored because it is false. Family values differ from family to family. The moral values taught to Islamic, Jewish, Christian and Catholic children are not identical. Who is to decide which set of values we should follow? The individual (or the individual's parents) has to make that decision themselves without interference from well intentioned others. No one has the right to interfere with a person's individual Liberty to choose what is best for them.
Locke believed that in order to understand the nature of power we must examine the origins of it. He felt that "Nature is a state of perfect equality amongst all men. In this state, no one man has more power or jurisdiction than any other man." His stipulation for this equality, however, was that a person who was out to harm himself or others should not be given equal rights under the law.
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