Free society and liberty is an important but complex topic very much worthy of discussion. When we talk politically about a free society, we should first of all be mindful of who would become freer. Is it those who least need to be freer or those who most need it?

There are many flavors of libertarianism but the general idea is to allow individuals the right to pursue their own goals without infringing on the equal rights of others. This is generally understood as a removal of restrictions, protections, and regulations. Creating these equal rights can involve two improvements to freedom.

On the one hand, society can remove environmental protections and regulations so that resources can be freely taken by those capable of exploiting them, generally the rich. Regardless of the negative consequences and the rights of others, these individuals should be allowed to do what they want without restriction in order to make their already comfortable lives even better.

On the other hand, society can remove individual protections and regulations so that the resources and wealth of the rich can be freely and legally taken by those that need them, generally the poor. This type of freedom assures equal rights for all. Regardless of the slightly negative consequences to the rich, the legal removal of property protections will allow the poor to have what they need to live the lives that they want.

The actual ideal of libertarianism, as an consistently applied political philosophy, should mean that everyone gets equal rights to freedom, not just the rich. Unfortunately, this is very far removed from how the majority proponents of libertarian philosophy regard its application.