RE: Freedom is Watching Your Step
What a great post to read. Thank you for posting. You do a great job examining the idea of freedom. Are we ever really free? and if so, what is the cost for that freedom. I lived in America most of my life and then moved around and now live in Asia. When I go back home it feels really restrictive and in some ways it is but in others there are actually more freedoms now than ever. I think it has to do with what you find important. But ther is a concern because we are in dire need of balancing our freedoms with the fact that we have to co-exist in order for us to thrive. We are seeing this challenge play out all over the world and rub up against the status quo and the enshrined power structures. In the end it has to be us the people who make the demands instead of the elite or current dominant forces. What do you think ?
I think the state should be dispensed with and individuals should handle their own business. Being free requires you to treat others with respect--if you want to be able to make a living and move through your community without being shunned. Freedom self-regulates, is what I mean. All human interactions should be consensual, and other than that we can mind our own business.
This debate has raged since the beginning of people congregating. The challenge is the state supplies services that the weaker of us cannot get on their own. If left up to individuals there would be people dying on the street (especially in today's world). So how do we insure that people who cannot fend for themselves do not get pushed aside?
Interesting objection to statelessness. In my view, we already have people dying in the streets with government in control, and often because of government. (For instance, homeless people in many "developed" nations are not allowed to live in affordable housing alternatives like sheds, RVs, campers, makeshift shanties, etc. And so if the homeless shelter happens to be full on snowy night with subzero temps, they freeze to death.)
I honestly don't think that the state does a better job of providing for the weakest members of society than the market could do.
thanks for your comments. Homelessness is a local issue not a federal one. Some places around the US do allow people to stay inside during the cold weather but the big cities not so much. The market only looks for profit and efficiency and helping those less fortunate is not really a financially profitable situation in the traditional sense. I always say that we need more compassion or no matter the political system we will only replace one tyrant for another even if that new tyrant is us. Thanks