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THE GREATEST PRACTICABLE AMOUNT OF LIBERTY TO EACH INDIVIDUAL.
What is liberty ? WHO WILL ALLOW ME TO DEFINE IT FOR HIM, AND AGREE BEFORE HAND TO SQUARE HIS LIFE BY MY DEFINITION? Who does not wish to see it first, and sit in judgment on it, and decide for himself as to its propriety? and who does not see that it is his own individual interpretation of the word that he adopts? And who will agree to square his whole life by any rule, which, although good at present, may not prove applicable to all cases? Who does not wish to preserve his liberty to act according to the peculiarities or INDIVIDUALITIES of future cases, and to sit in judgment on the merits of each, and to change or vary from time to time with new developements and increasing knowledge? Each individual being thus at liberty at all times, would be SOVEREIGN OF HIMSELF. NO GREATER AMOUNT OF LIBERTY CAN BE CONCEIVED — ANY LESS WOULD NOT BE LIBERTY! — LIBERTY, then, is the SOVEREIGNTY OF THE INDIVIDUAL ; and never shall man know liberty until each and every individual is acknowledged to be the only legitimate sovereign of his or her person, time and property, each living and acting at his own cost ; and not until we live in society where each can exercise this inalienable right of sovereignty at all times without clashing with, or violating that of others. This is impracticable just in proportion as we or our interests are UNITED or combined with others. The only ground upon which man can know liberty, is that of disconnection, disunion, individuality.
(posted to promote awareness of the works of Josiah Warren)