Freedom is strangely ephemeral. It is something like breathing; one only becomes acutely aware of its importance when one is choking.", "...freedom is difficult to understand because it isn't a '(ital) presence' but an '(ital) absence'�an absence of governmental constraint. People who are unfamiliar with severe political constraints�severe enough to make them aware that they have lost their freedom�often don't know what freedom is and on what it depends.