Happy Freedom Day

Yes, I know, it's supposed to be Happy Independence Day or Happy 4th of July, but aren't we really celebrating our freedom? As I've written before (here, here and here) there is much confusion about freedom. Does freedom mean being able to do whatever we want whenever, however, or wherever we want? Absolutely not. Freedom doesn't mean the right to harm others and some would argue not even the right to hurt ourselves (which subject I won't tackle right now). Freedom doesn't mean free from rules, laws or regulations either; that would be anarchy and anarchy seriously restricts freedoms.

What does freedom mean then? Depending upon which dictionary you consult, the typical definition is: the power to act, speak or think without externally imposed restraints. So if there's an "externally imposed restraint" or law to not steal, has the government taken away a freedom? That depends. Why? Because you still have the power to act out a theft or speak or think about stealing. No freedom to choose has been taken away; you can still rob someone if you so choose no matter what the law is. The freedom of choice to act, speak or think has not been taken from you, only the freedom to choose the consequence for your wrongful act. Do you see the difference?

What "freedoms" should governments grant? To rephrase what I stated in the previous paragraph: governments--or any entity for that matter--cannot take away our freedom to choose, they can only establish the consequences of those choices. (To be perfectly accurate there are exceptions such as execution or frontal lobotomies, which take away our ability to choose, but those options are obvious freedom limiters and are not included here.) Therefore governments grant freedom from undesirable consequences. Isn't that really the "freedom" we're talking about?

To recap:

Freedom of choice cannot be taken away

Freedom from consequences of choice can

The question then becomes should all undesirable consequences be taken away in order to establish "freedom"? No, of course not. There should be undesirable consequences for such things as theft, murder, etc. But what gets included in the "etc."? Like it or not, that's where society's moral compass comes into play; what we, collectively, think or feel is right or wrong. If we declare it "right," we pass laws to establish freedom from undesirable consequences. If we declare it "wrong," we pass laws establishing undesirable consequences. Too often I hear, "You can't legislate morality." If you look at the situation with a discerning eye, that is really all we ever legislate. We just better make sure we know what's really right and wrong.