Thomas Aquinas (or St. Thomas Aquinas as we old Catholic relics prefer) is recognized by the Liberty Movement as a philosopher of reason and natural rights as much as perhaps the ultimate Christian Theologian. He is part of a straight philosopical line from Aristotle to the thinkers of the Enlightenment (including some of the Founders) and the modern Objectivist Movement. In the essay below, he clearly makes the case that true liberty (not the pseudo-liberty hedonism) is impossible without reason. Liberty can only exist in a society or civilization firmly grounded in reason and virtue. We have been thorougly duped by the modern Progressive Movement that “freedom” means doing whatever suits your fancy, as opposed to doing what you wish so long as it is within the parameters of virtue and taking actions for which you are fully prepared to pay the consequences (or reap the rewards).   I invite you to enjoy this essay by one of Western Civilization’s greatest thinkers.  A/D

 
AQUINAS ON LIBERTY

As long as we abide in partial darkness, we will continue to be conquered.

If we looked very closely at the idea of liberty, we would discover that there is a radicaldistinction between true human liberty and liberty falsely so-called. Indeed, liberty falsely so-called is that same liberty which the NWO qualifies as the “bait of an idea toattract the masses of the people to one’s party for the purpose of crushing another who is in authority,” and as an idea of freedom which is really an “infection,” and as a“slackening of the reins of government.”Where does the false idea of liberty come from? What is false liberty? What is trueliberty? Knowledge of the correct answers to these questions is still lacking in the bulkof the patriot movement; and to the degree that it is lacking, so is integral unity and truepower to overcome the menace. Until the patriot movement unifies itself under truephilosophical principles, it will win only apparent victories, while the satanic NWOcontinues its long march to total global domination.True liberty is the highest of natural endowments. It is the portion only of intellectual orrational natures; and it confers on man this dignity – that he is in the hand of hiscounsel and has power over his actions. But the manner in which such dignity isexercised is of the greatest moment, inasmuch as on the use that is made of liberty thehighest good and the greatest evil alike depend. Man, indeed, is free to obey hisreason, to seek moral good, and to strive unswervingly after his last end. Yet he is freealso to turn aside to all other things; and, in pursuing the empty semblance of good, todisturb rightful order and to fall headlong into the destruction which he has voluntarilychosen. Worse still are those who promote a false and absurd notion of liberty, byperverting the idea of freedom, or extending it to things in respect of which man cannotrightly be regarded as free.The Declaration of Independence states as follows: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator withcertain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit ofhappiness.Sad to say, this is a very ambiguous, and therefore dangerous, proposition, as it issubject to any number of conflicting interpretations. Indeed, the proof of its weakness isthe young age of the total collapse of the American Republic. Obviously, that clausehas not been interpreted properly. If it had been, we would not have devolved intobarbarity in less than two hundred fifty years. It can be argued that the AmericanRepublic was built on Freemasonic sand; and thus if we are going to rebuild it, wemight want to re-codify our foundational principles. In order for America to throw of itsinternationalist oppressors, a proper understanding of natural human liberty, in theminds and hearts of the American people, is indispensably necessary. For we thepeople have been brought low, and have been rendered soft and vulnerable as the direct result of having imbibed and believed a false notion of liberty and the pursuit ofhappiness.As a natural endowment given to human nature by God, the omnipotent Creator of theuniverse, liberty must exist for an end or ultimate purpose. And this end must beidentical to the essential determination and composition of human nature, which isrational, i.e., intellectual and volitional. The end, or object, both of the rational will andof its liberty is that good only which is in conformity with reason.Liberty belongs only to those who have the gift of reason or intelligence. Animals donot possess liberty. Considered as to its nature, it is the faculty of choosing meansfitted for the end proposed, for he is master of his actions who can choose one thingout of many. Freedom of choice is, therefore, the essential property of the human will.But the will cannot proceed to act until it is enlightened by intellectual knowledge. Forthe proper object of the will is the good. The will cannot proceed to act until it isenlightened by the intellect. Nothing can be desired by the will unless it is judged bythe intellect to be a good. Thus in all voluntary acts, choice is subsequent to anintellectual judgment that something is good or desirable.The will is referred to as the appetitive power of the soul or the rational appetite. Likethe intellect, the will is a spiritual faculty. It is that power through which an individualseeks to execute an act or attain to an object proposed to it by the intellect. The objectof the will is always the good, and even in the election of evil, it must be proposed tothe will under the appearance of good. Anything chosen as a means is thereforeviewed under some aspect of goodness.Therefore because in all voluntary acts choice is subsequent to a judgment upon thetruth of the good presented, declaring to which good preference should be given, it isan immutably true principle that human liberty depends entirely on intellectualjudgments that conform to reason and the natural law. If a judgment which does notconform to the natural law or to reason, and which is, therefore, objectively false andimmoral, is acted upon by the will, then it is a source of grave disorder in society. Exponentially multiply the number of individual immoral acts, and you have a Republicthat collapses from moral decay in a short period of time.Hedonism, i.e., the tyranny of the passions, has no place in the well ordered man or inthe well ordered civilization. Unfortunately our elitist overlords have long been atdumbing us down to the level of beasts that cannot employ their natural rationalendowments, but only their carnal lusts. We allowed this to happen to us because wemistakenly believed that the lie they told us, namely that true liberty is the “right” to dowhatever we want, whenever we want, as long as it is not illegal or discoverable. Trueliberty is an essential property of objective truth and morality. Therefore there can be no true liberty in a civilization that enshrines moral relativity.