If you are free, why do you have to obey laws?

Hi! This is quite heavy. I think we need to know our boundaries in order to be free, yes. With no boundaries, we might hurt other people who have rights themselves. Knowing your boundaries would let you know how far your freedom goes and not infringe on the freedom of others. In freedom of speech, this has been abused and overused to the detriment of many. The same thing, our speech should end where it hurts others or become libelous. Perhaps, we should think that each one of us are free and has rights but it ends where the freedom and rights of others are infringed. Happy mylotting.

You have misunderstood what freedom is.I remember an incident when an young man was walking with a sick in his which he was rotating. The edge of the stick hit an old man who asked how he could hit his face with his stick.The young man replied "I have freedom of movement" for which the old replied"Yes I agree you have freedom of movement but you should know that it ends where my nose begins". Like that every one has freedom but there should be limits either self imposed or by law.Suppose some one comes and robs you and when you question he coolly replies" I wanted money I took it from you .What is wrong" Do you accept such a reply?you either fight or report to cop?why?AS long as you are not a harm to others or society the Govt does not interfere in your life.But when you go out the boundry only the problem starts.Now do you agree that there be laws to enforce discipline..

Anarchy is the state of having no oversight or regulation of our actions,but everyone does have absolute authority for their own actions..Looking around today,I don't think society is ready yet for that kind of freedom...

I think that as a society we have agreed that in a free society we are free but not so free that we are entitled to trample on the rights of others. In terms of free speech, we do have a lot of latitude in the matter and IMO that is because that while our free speech might hurt someone else's feelings it doesn't do irreparable harm to the individual. There are limits to our free speech, however. For instance, you can't yell fire in a crowded theater and not suffer the consequences. If you threatened the life of the President or some other elected official, I think that you would find yourself hauled in for questioning and perhaps even face some sort of charges.

Laws are created to create order in a society. Freedom is not absolute freedom as freewill is not absolute freewill..

Hello, Each of us has two parts of our life. One is our private life and the other is our social life. Now we may take certain liberties in our private life but can't unleash them into our public life. Now personal liberty or freedom should, in no way, be exercised in such a way that may harm the freedom of other people. Law ensures that no such abuse of personal liberty takes place. Freedom of speech must also be accompanied by some sort of restriction so that no person or organization face public humiliation. You can allege a person for doing illegitimate things and doing that publicly will certainly be humiliating. Democracy is all about a check and balance mechanism. The society is not only about you and me, it's about thousands of other people. In order to ensure safety and dignity of all we need restrictions, we need laws. Thanks. God bless you.

Well, if we go doing everything we want we'd end up stepping on each other's toes. It would look nasty. Just like when brats go about and do everything they want without a care for anyone else, don't you just feel that they need to be tied down and kept in the basement for a while? That would be the feeling when you stop obeying laws. Laws are made to regulate us, let us know that for every actions we have and for the freedom, we have a responsibility to respect the others as well.

There's no absolute freedom in the world. If a person expand his freedom without any restriction, he will infringe other people's freedom sooner or later. So it's reasonable to set some restriction on freedom. But it's not easy to ascertain where the boundaries are for different people have different definition of freedom. In my view, except for some acknowledged basic freedom, the boundaries of freedom should be ascertained by the government which is elected by citizens. Only the members of society could have such rights.

Total freedom is an illusion. We are only free within the boundaries of social norms and the laws that govern us. We are not free from the conscience that dictate us. We are free to speak our mind but we have to mind what we speak. Man is a social creature. It is these rules that make us man afterall.

hello! i think that by obeying laws, it does not mean you are not free anymore. Laws are formulated and implemented to instill order in a community, society or group of people or confederation of groups, and the likes. without laws, the freedom of which you are referring to would be useless and can even be used against our own person or against the rest of humanity. Laws are implemented to protect the rights of each individual, to set the boundaries as to the extent of the expression of the freedom we so want to wield. If all of us exercise our freedom without any restrictions or boundaries, we would bound to hurt or harm someone. we can say that genuine freedom is relative to the community we belong to, the laws that that particular community implements or adopts. Absolute freedom lies within our mind, not in the context of our daily interaction with life and with our society. We could dream and think anything and everything without restrictions, for then we would not infringe on the rights of other people. In order for us to live in an organized and peaceful society, freedom must be relative to the laws and policies of the society we live in, to protect each individual living in that particular society, including ourselves. Yes, freedom of expression is not meant for absolute freedom. it must have boundaries to protect our individual rights as human beings.

there is a difference between freedom and lawlessness. freedoms are granted by the government, the government is allowed to create laws as long as they do not infringe on our rights, which as stated in the Deceleration of Independence, are "Endowed by our Creator". freedoms come from those Rights. Laws are put in place to prevent others from infringe on you rights. If there were no laws there would be no freedom

We are free, but freedom doesn't mean that we are allowed to do anything. We have to keep in mind that if we are free, the other who live among us are free to. So the majority of laws are made to keep everybody's freedom. I am free to do things that don't hurt others or the society. I am free what I think, as long I don't offend others with my speech. Because nobody likes to be insulted or accused of things which he/she hasn't done. So I think we are almost free, but we cannot ask much more than we have. The only thing I don't agree that ugly words are censored in TV. We hear them all the time, why should TV be clean of it when we see images that are more worse than the words? PS. I don't live in America, but I think this is the case in every democratic country

even though we are free, it doesn't mean it is absolute. because all the people around us are also free to do or to say whatever they want. we are restricted by their own freedom and they are also restricted because of our own freedom. besides having a free will, we also have the intellect to distinguish right from wrong. with that, we choose to do the right rather than wrong. we can do everything we want even if it is right or wrong but we should be ready to face the consequences of our doings because it is the freedom of the authorities to imprison or punish those who commit wrong. if we do things right and everyone agrees on us, we are not restricted. we can say that an act is right, when it is acceptable by most people. if not, there are certain rules to be followed. a right act is for the benefit of the public. we can kill whoever we want because we have our freedom to do that but because it is against the general welfare of the society, it is prohibited. even though we have a freedom, every single person in the world have his own freedom also. we have to respect one another that is why have some rules and regulations to follow. to be fair with everybody for we are all member or people of the earth. :D

Freedom should have limits. It will be chaotic if there will be no boundaries. If there will be no boundaries, it means, you can do anything you want, regardless of who gets hurt. In the same way, some people can do anything even if you gets hurt.

Rules and Laws are there to regulate the citizens and keep things organised. Sure it does limit us, but with this we get to do things much better and safer from those who'd be trying to take advantage of other people.