Heroes of Liberty in the ancient and modern world

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  • Abraham: The power to divine that human life is inviolably sacred. He realizes that the god who created all men equal does not require the forfeiture of liberty through the sacrifice of his son.
  • Odysseus/Ulysses: The power to control his impulses and to temper license by reason. He hears the Sirens' song but lashes himself to the mast so as not to be seduced, which would lead to the destruction of his ship and men (the state/society).
  • Antigone: The power to resist the control of liberty by the state. She insists on providing a funeral for her brother Polynices, even though he is a traitor to the state. King Creon refuses to allow the burial, which she performs anyway. Eventually Creon relents, but only after Antigone kills herself.
  • Socrates: The freedom to argue for liberty to his peers coupled with willingness to accept the verdict of the system that allows it.
  • The Founding Fathers: Their effort to prevent the state from becoming a tyranny by separating and balancing against each other the branches of government power, and by enshrining the principles of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" as "unalienable rights" protected by trial by a jury of peers.
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