"Why?" Because all I haply can and do, <br />All that I am now, all I hope to be,-- <br />Whence comes it save from fortune setting free <br />Body and soul the purpose to pursue, <br />God traced for both? If fetters, not a few, <br />Of prejudice, convention, fall from me, <br />These shall I bid men--each in his degree <br />Also God-guided--bear, and gayly, too? <br /> <br />But little do or can the best of us: <br />That little is achieved through Liberty. <br />Who, then, dares hold, emancipated thus, <br />His fellow shall continue bound? Not I, <br />Who live, love, labour freely, nor discuss <br />A brother's right to freedom. That is "Why."<br /><br />Robert Browning<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/why-i-am-a-liberal/
