Reasonably Protecting Freedom

"Sensely guarding freedom" – this task was put before the Liberals Mirosław Dzielski in the essay "Who Are Liberals". It was 1979. I was just born. I was born a liberal, raised in the spirit of freedom, the work for the choices that have been made since childhood. A liberal whose request for freedom, knowing freedom, promoting freedom, or yet securing it accompanies each day – including the individual, in relation to the another Man, in the ellipse of freedom encountering more and more people. In this choice of freedom, the question of what liberals are present is echoed. The key to my answer is this reasonable defender on freedom.

Reasonably guarding freedom does not mean passively looking at the condition of liberalism as an intellectual tradition taught at universities. It's not about adoration of myth, waiting in the vestibule of ideas, or polishing the principles of liberal democracy with a advanced gloss, like the household silver we've been pulling out of Christmas. due to the fact that liberalism is... everyday. There's no place for stagnation, patina, bloating, overconfidence or cold habit. What then? There's area for life. To connect the dots until the full thing emerges. To cultivate values, to care for the strength and importance of individual choice, to the primacy of reason, to keep promises. To see that the limit of my freedom truly is the freedom of another man – another 1 that is not seen as an enemy.

Reasoning to defender freedom is to choose your freedom and to advance the freedom of others, to see the rights and obligations, to defend yourself against falsehood and hypocrisy, and to enter into dialog to remember his principles, his respect, and not to make strong pre-assumptions concerning the opponent. due to the fact that dialogue, discussion is not a scream. It's besides a free exercise. all day. From waking up to the minute we fall into the embrace of Morpheus. Exercise in freedom and understands... It's a habit. due to the fact that liberalism is simply a regular choice of values – specified as freedom, equality and tolerance, which are at the root of the full catalogue of human rights. This is our freedom “from”, but besides this “to”. It is the ability to keep your convictions erstwhile you request to defend them, make them, but besides change erstwhile there are rational reasons for it. all conversation here is simply a lesson and a gift. all man here is simply a lesson and a gift. And it's up to us to usage them. due to the fact that we can only be intolerant "in the face of enemies of freedom", and society and the state should build on realism, criticism, the ability to diagnose problems, but besides the willingness to compromise. This makes liberals reliable partners – in politics, in NGOs, in culture, in universities, in the media, in the regular relation of Ja to Ty.

Reasonably guarding freedom besides means esteeming yourself, believing in your own freedom, creativity and skills. It's not to belittle either your own or individual else's success, but to fail... not to make orphans. This does not fall into talk, into impersonal “self” which blurs work towards oneself and others; it does not transfer work to any distant “someone”. It is to appreciate the value and effects of your own work. due to the fact that we are the authors and authors of our lives.

Reasonably guarding freedom means... not sleeping. Don't miss the tiny signals erstwhile freedom starts to slip distant erstwhile it leaks through our fingers because... we felt besides comfortable. due to the fact that “freedom will not be taken from us overnight, from Tuesday to Wednesday”... This reason is the ability to see the details, but besides the imagination of the whole; it is the ability not to sit on the laurels, not the festival, the one-day joy of electoral victory, or, as once, the designation of freedom as a "wreckless gift" and the unreflective entrustment of it into any hands. It's a job. all day's work. Reasonable guarding of freedom besides means vigilance, mindfulness and care, openness to the world, and at the same time “the ability of a critical approach to his own knowledge.” It's a choice. It's life. It's everyday. This is simply a story, which we show in different versions in each subsequent issue of “Liberté!”

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When Błażej Lenkowski and Leszek Jażdżewski created this magazine, they repeated that it was “a free voice, a voice of freedom in insurance”. Today, I will tell you the same thing: we insure freedom with improvement skills, intelligent reflections, creating space and opportunities to make and realise the freedoms of others, bringing together generations, discussing and talking, nurturing it in individual and political elections, building it in and between our environments; guarding it through development, and erstwhile it is essential by questioning our own confidence. Because... that's what we liberals mean. This is besides what large Authors and large Authors of the monthly “Liberté!” Thank you for your texts, talks, advice, support. For creating this magazine already from 100 numbers (including 70 for creating them with me). Thanks for your assurance in my crazy times of plans (yes, there is always a plan!), for the peace with which you greet each of my next “deadline ticks”! This number is our holiday, but besides our lesson and gift. due to the fact that in this issue, like in the lens, you can see how different liberals are. And it's a good thing they are.

Thanks to all of you who read us! due to the fact that it means that the occupation I love so much truly makes sense!