On Wed, 19 Aug 2009, Dave U. Random wrote:

http://patdollard.com/2009/07/is-the...-555-pound-14-
year-old-boy-guilty-of-criminal-neglect/

Imagine you are going out for a drive. From your drive way you turn left.
At the first light you turn to the right, at the next you turn left again.
At the third you go through the intersection, and pull into the 7-11 for a
Big Gulp.

Someone who follows "Negative Liberty" will read the above and think it
good. You were free to drive any direction you wanted to, free to stop in
at the 7-11 and get a Big Gulp because you wanted to. You were free from
external forces that stoped you.

Someone who follows "Positive Liberty" will read the above and think it
bad. You were driven by internal forces to the 7-11. You HAD to have a
Big Gulp, so you took time from your day to get one, time that you would
have used for ther things if not for your thirst. You were not free from
internal forces that controled you.

A person who follows Positive Liberty will then insist that since you were
driven by internal forces, you are not rational. You are controled, and
not of your own free will. They, however, are not subject to such forces.
As such, for the "greater good", laws must be passed to limit your
behavior, behavior that you would have not wanted to do anyhow if not for
the internal forces controlling you. If you were "better", you would
thank them, so your opposition to them is a sign of just how damaged you
really are.

As for this 555 pound 14 year old, ask yourself first if you follow
positive or negative liberty. If you are a positive liberty "for the
greater good" Obama following national health care loving socialist
democrat, then I would expect you to want to save this child from themself
because you know best. On the other hand, if you follow negative liberty,
as I do, you would think it's not government's duty to get it's nose
involved since it's none of your business what someone else does.