Pubdate: Wed, 10 Jul 2002
Source: Daily Telegraph (UK)
Webpage: 
www.news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/campaigns/Free_Country/freemain.xml&sSheet=/news/2002/07/10/ixhome.html
Copyright: 2002 Telegraph Group Limited
Contact:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/114
Author: Charles Moore

A FREE COUNTRY

'IT'S a free country" is an old expression, but is it true? You won't find 
a democratic politician who says straight out that he is against freedom, 
but it is almost equally hard to find one who actually stands up for it in 
practice.

Whichever party is in power itches to make new laws that curtail our 
liberties. The Left will be keener to control, say, guns, the Right to 
control, say, drugs, but all parties share the desire to control.

It is time to take a stand against this desire. The Daily Telegraph does 
not support the doctrinaire libertarian argument which states that freedom 
is the only good. Clearly, all states have a need for order, and the price 
of one person's freedom can be too high for somebody else. But we do 
believe that there should always be a presumption in favour of freedom.

The burden should not be on people to prove why they should be allowed to 
do something, but on the authorities to prove why they shouldn't. Thus, why 
shouldn't people be free to hunt, or smoke cannabis, or build an extension 
to their house, or travel without an identity card, or read pornography on 
the internet, or adopt children? There may be reasons to prevent any or all 
of these things, but the restrictors should be the ones who have to make 
their case.

Earlier this week, Parliament solemnly debated whether there should be a 
law to prevent people having messy gardens: no one said that it was none of 
their business. There should also be a presumption that the authorities 
should stop taking more power over people and should start handing power 
back. Why should trial by jury be curtailed, or the assets of people 
suspected of profiting from crime be seized, or the Customs and Excise have 
the power to enter your house? Why should the police be able to subject 
drivers to random breath tests, or to spy on the public through CCTV, or 
the Government keep information on you that it shares across departments, 
or tell you whom to employ, or intercept your electronic communications?

The cant phrase always used to justify the restriction of freedom is "The 
innocent have nothing to fear". It is almost always untrue. The innocent 
suffer unfairly from every intrusion and restriction; indeed, their 
innocence is no longer presumed.

Today, The Daily Telegraph starts its "A Free Country" campaign. Week by 
week, and in major individual investigations, we shall examine how freedom 
is being taken away, whether by Westminster or Whitehall or Brussels or any 
other authority. We shall try to annoy the control freaks, whether they are 
Right, Left or Centre, and we shall welcome allies for freedom from all 
quarters. The Conservative leadership contestants hardly breathe a word 
about freedom. The Labour Government's Queen's Speech is a shopping list of 
attacks on our liberties. There's plenty to do. Libertad o muerte!
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MAP posted-by: Beth