There's tremendous difference. Imagine I put a 5' high fence every 3 feet on a sidewalk. You still have the freedom to walk down the street, but no longer have the ability to do so. This is why the Bill of Rights is framed in terms of limitations on governments as opposed to guarantees of rights.

For instance, the Bill of Rights doesn't grant you the right to free speech. You already naturally have that. It instead makes it unconstitutional for the government to try to hinder that right. By contrast the USSR and China both had/have guarantees of freedom of speech in their constitution, but they mean nothing because obviously you have freedom of speech by virtue of being able to speak.

You having the freedom of speech says nothing about the ability of the government (or private companies in contemporary times) engaging in actions making it difficult to exercise that speech without fear of repercussion. Or as the old tyrannical quote goes, "There is freedom of speech, but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech."

▲

freejazz 2 days ago | parent [-]

> There's tremendous difference.

No there isn't. They are the different sides of the same coin. Any freedom from something is a constraint against someone else doing that thing.

▲

somenameforme 2 days ago | parent [-]

This may be how you personally interpret these things, but it is not how it has been interpreted universally for many centuries now. The freedom to do something has nothing to do with how easy it is to do, or even the absolute viability. For a basic example of the latter, every US citizen by birth has the freedom to become President some day, yet of course it is literally impossible for more than 0.000006% of people to achieve that within their expected lifetimes.

This is why constitutional guarantees of rights, the world round, are generally completely meaningless.

	▲	freejazz a day ago \| parent [-]
		>The freedom to do something has nothing to do with how easy it is to do, or even the absolute viability. Are you confusing me with someone else? > For a basic example of the latter, every US citizen by birth has the freedom to become President some day, yet of course it is literally impossible for more than 0.000006% of people to achieve that within their expected lifetimes I have no idea what this has to do with my point and you have not adequately explained the relevancy either.