Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

Is there any word more misused in the world than “freedom”? People imagine freedom makes them godlike, able to do anything they want with no restrictions. In fact, it's the nature of any restrictions that defines what people consider “free.” In collectivist nations, you are “free” when someone else is providing your food and housing. In Libertarian think, you are “free” when you can horde opportunity. In religions, you are “free” when everyone is acting like God says. All these definitions are putting quite a burden on freedom to deliver, to the point where people consider anything they want as freedom, and any restrictions as a lack thereof.

Freedom is important because it's one of the two components of liberty, the other being opportunity. Opportunity without freedom is worthless: there is plenty of opportunity in old Communist regimes but without the freedom of individuals to act, they stagnated and atrophied. In the Jeffersonian liberty sense, freedom is defined judicially; you are allowed to do anything unless explicitly forbidden by law. But to collectivists freedom is about socio-ecomonic desires: people would be more free if they were relieved of their burdens. From the globalist viewpoint, where everyone is “equal” and bounty is to be shared, the U.S. doesn't rank very highly in “freedom,” however, our definition of freedom allows everyone to have their own point of view.