Comment by brigandish

> The contrast between positive freedom, the freedom to do something, and negative freedom, the freedom from interference in your life, is the core political argument in America right now.

True.

> Negative freedom, freedom from government interference, is being promoted by those seeking to weaken the government enough to supplant it.

Tenuous. Then again, like you, all of my political opponents are either stupid or evil or both.

> People who are poor and sick are likely unable to stand up for themselves or participate in solidarity against authority.

Contentious. Sometimes this is true, sometimes it is not - giving negative liberty rights (e.g. first amendment speech protections) to individuals has proven an incredibly effective tool to protect the individual against the state. Not perfect, but incredibly effective all the same.

> This individual issue is relatively small, but you take 100's of issues like this, and the effect is to create a class of people who aren't able to do anything but be obedient workers.

Any supporter of negative liberty (i.e. someone who is for small government) would tell you, that is what government does, which is a big reason why they want small government.