What is more important - freedom or saftey?

I guess it depends on the context. I prefer freedom, and I prefer safety, in quite similar proprotions, as long as they don't exclude each other. Being safe without being able to enjoy certain freedoms is not much fun, just as much as being completly free and not having any safety.

I think everyone has to find their own balance. What works for one person won't work for another.

As a Conservative that actually thinks the Patriot Act is BAD NEWS, I quote Thomas Jefferson:

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.

Benjamin Franklin:

Those willing to give up a little liberty for a little security deserve neither security nor liberty.

I don't see how the two are mutually exclusive. I often hear Americans going on about how they're so much more free than the rest of the world is. And well, I just don't see what the wonderful freedoms are that they have that I don't.

The biggest difference seems to be that Americans have the freedom to have guns, whereas I have the freedom to go out without having to fear being shot even if I am in one of the less upscale areas. Now, those two freedoms might just be mutually exclusive, and I prefer the one I have. In my opinion, safety is freedom a lot of the time.

Otherwise, I have pretty much the same freedoms as an American would. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to make my way in life as I wish. I'm also free from worrying about getting ill or injured as I am insured for that by the government regardless of how much money I have. Another case of safety being freedom, to me anyway. But people have different definitions of freedom. I'm just glad to be in a place where my need for both freedom and safety is mostly satisfied.

The freeist couny in the world is probably Switzerland.