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2. What fruits of freedom do you treasure the most and why?
"Being able to educate children at home because passing on values from parent to child is what being a parent is ultimately all about."
"I treasure economic prosperity. Because I am free to pursue my own interests and well-being, I can provide for the comfort and well-being of my family. This kind of economic prosperity has flourished in America because our founding fathers declared the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as self-evident, unalienable rights as the cornerstone of our government."
"I treasure being able to find the truth in books and in people. I can think of no greater joy than when I discover another one of what I call "my heroes," people who "have the whole 2,000 years in them," as I like to put it, and can take the measure of the modern world, putting things in clear perspective."
"Being able to obtain virtually any life-improving product I want — and for which I am willing to pay. Would a bunch of commies have been able to produce the endless variety of colored contacts from which I can now choose? Would they have produced a bird feeder for my window with a two-way mirror? The point here is that the very exotic (even mundane) gifts that end up under my tree result from relatively free people maximizing their own self interest in the name of mutual gain, something that can only occur on the magnitude we experience it without endless interventions of statists dictating what is and is not appropriate for us to build, sell, give away, or exchange for some other good."
"Being able to practice my faith openly and share my faith with others."
"Being able to raise a family as I choose and influence others for the better."
"The fruits of freedom I treasure most are the ability to educate my children (and grandchildren) in a Christian school that teaches the truths of creation and Scripture along with reading, writing, and arithmetic. I believe a Christian education teaches them not only how to live in this world but prepares them for the next."
"Choice in education: no child is the same and must be able to choose what, where, and how he wants to learn."
"Being able to freely make choices that will improve my life — choosing how I make a living, choosing how much education I obtain, choosing how many children my husband and I will have—motivates me to be the best person I can be, as an employee, as a student, and as a mother."
"The ability to teach my children in a way we as parents believe is right."
"The privilege we have to roam this country and learn of the many people and places that make this country great."
"The freedom to read news of what is happening in the world and evaluate the facts for ourselves."
"The fruits of freedom we all enjoy (if we realize them and permit ourselves to do so) are a cycle of one freedom to another. For example, with the freedom to create the faster, more fuel-efficient vehicles mentioned above, the fruits are both measurable and immeasurable. The measurable fruits of the freedom to create new products or a new market are in terms of dollars, a percent share of the auto market, or the ability of one man’s creation to feed his family (or relating to the cycle above, this gives us the opportunity to create another product or market). The immeasurable fruits are too valuable to place any measurement on, and include the time we are able to spend — and the memories we are able to share — with those whom we love because of the products created in a free market."
"Many freedoms yield the following fruit: the ability to express oneself to others and to God, not just through speech (although that is very important), but also through the things we own and how we use them and conform them to our ideals, the things we do with our time and how that is an expression of our priorities, the people we associate with and how we define that association by mutual consent."
"People, free to produce goods that their fellow citizens value and freely trade to obtain, have thereby produced an incredible standard of living for all citizens."
"Personal liberty and the rule of law have produced a society where physical safety and private property are quite secure. I feel safe in my home and neighborhood."
"Strangely enough, it’s a remarkable feeling when you walk in the door and your homeschooled son tells you all about the unification of upper and lower Egypt by Pharaoh Menes. I suppose one of the benefits of having the freedom to home-educate your children is that you find out just how much YOU didn’t learn while growing up. You get to learn exactly what your son is learning only he’s six and you’re 32!"
"The ability to give my children many of those very fruits of freedom. Certainly, that includes affording them good educations and probably more material things than any children need have. But it also includes the ability to give them the love of freedom that I have and to have instilled in them the importance of character, responsibility and accountability. I rejoice in the fact I am now extending those lessons to the next generation as well. If enough of us remember the Founders and continue to enrich the lives of our children and grandchildren with those ideals, America will remain strong — and free as well."
"Being able to express my interests, opinions, and thoughts freely through writing to my representatives, newspapers, etc."
"Being able to exercise many freedoms (religion, speech, association) all in one, convenient place: the Internet."
"Our quality of life we enjoy in America is what I treasure the most."
"I treasure technology for improving and extending our lives. (Freedom breeds innovation)."
"I treasure literature for deciphering humanity."
"I treasure my car for allowing me to travel most anywhere I want to go most anytime I want to go there."
