A person's freedom—that is, his or her ability to act unconstrained by the coercion of others—is intricately bound to the freedom of other human beings in society. This link is of such importance that it may sometimes be necessary not only to respect the freedom of others, but even to take positive action on its behalf. This point was dramatically emphasized in a famous passage from Martin Niemoeller, a Lutheran pastor who survived seven years in a Nazi concentration camp:

In Germany, the Nazis first came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics, but I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak for me.

In effect Niemoeller argues that actively upholding the freedom of others is imperative to our self-interest. But if failing to speak up against aggressors undermines a person's own freedom, does not any aggressive act on one's own part undermine it even more directly and inevitably?

Rational people recognize that their lives require their freedom. In practice their freedom requires that they respect the freedom of others, by refraining from attempting to impose their values on others through the initiation of force.