A thought on personal freedom
It seems that every day I am less free.
We live in a society, we do not live as individuals divorced of society as the right wing libertarians seem to believe. We cannot all live on private islands, pay no tax and ward off intruders with guns. We exist through society, and as a result the freedom debate always seems to be about trading off freedoms in order to better live within society.
Society is about individual responsibility.
But we are missing something vital.
Responsibility cannot exist without freedom.
Let me pose a simple scenerio, I would like to play some loud music, but my neighbor is a shift worker. If I have the freedom to play the loud music, I can choose to be responsible, I can choose to think of my neighbor.
But in our society we don’t have this choice. We don’t play the loud music because then the police will come. In this situation we are not exercising responsibility, we are not fulfilling our duties as citizens. In this situation we do not have the freedom to be responsible.
How can we ask people to be better citizens, if we try and mandate in each and every situation what is the appropriate course of action through the exercise of the heavy hand of the law? When we substitute duty and responsibility for law and compulsion, we are no longer citizens with rights are responsibilities, we are subjects with naught but fear and forced obedience.
And the latter is not the best outcome. Because the heavy hand of the law is no substitute for the appropriate ethic of an empowered and free citizen.
I fear it’s getting worse. Do you?
Posted: July 4th, 2008 under Citizenship, Liberty.
Comments: 3