Understanding the Loss of Freedom

Understanding the Loss of Freedom
by R. Lee Wrights


"When liberty is taken away by force it can be restored by force. When it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered." - Dorothy Thompson, American newspaper columnist (1894-1961)


All Americans, if not all human beings, think they know how to define freedom. And, in all fairness most of them do understand personal freedom as it applies to themselves as individuals. However, when it comes to defining freedom in more general terms so as to allow its application to others most people, in my opinion, are sorely under-educated. Human beings have a very hard time with the concept of allowing others to be as free as they themselves feel they deserve to be.

Why?

I think there are a number of factors in human nature that causes this phenomenon. First and foremost is fear. Fear is the fertilizer that grows governments to tyrannical proportions; and, the invisible phantom that causes individuals to willingly surrender their liberty. People simply do not trust each other enough to allow their fellow citizens the same amount of freedom with which they themselves feel comfortable. After all, we know we can trust ourselves, but how do we know we can trust our neighbor? A byproduct of this uncertainty and mistrust is unfortunately, sacrifice.

The sacrifice created by human's fear of the unknown is twofold and therefore doubly tragic. Especially when the sacrifice involves freedom. Any individual that willingly relinquishes their own freedom for a promise of greater security will have no qualms about voting away someone else's liberty when given the opportunity. People sacrifice themselves and their neighbors on the altar of Sacred Safety, which is a false-god conjured by the beast Bureaucracy feasting upon an ample fare of human fear. The greatest motivation that mankind has to abandon the principles of freedom is simply being afraid.

The phenomenon of eroding freedom is sadly evident in all walks of daily life and does not leave one community in America untouched. One needs to look no further than a local public hearing involving practically any zoning issue to examine the evidence of waning freedom. Here you will find the most ferocious groups of individuals, seeking to restrict the liberty of others, ever freely assembled within society. The rights of the individual property owner are determined to be expendable, sacrificed in the interest of supposed greater "collective" rights held by his/her neighbors.

The "neighborhoods" have learned to manipulate the force of government and direct it at individuals that, more times than not, live among them. Many of them never stopping to think that neighbors that stand with them today to steal another's freedom, will turn on them like a pack of angry dogs if they themselves dare to exercise "too much" personal liberty. Freedom is lost by all because by taking it upon yourself to use government to violate others, you are saying it is okay for others, if there is enough of them, to use government to violate you. If you can vote away your neighbor's freedom, then your own freedom can certainly be voted from you. Nobody wins because everyone loses.

Why?

It is really a matter of trust that has almost done as much damage to Lady Liberty as the ever-present fear that others might have "too much" freedom. As little as thirty or forty years ago Americans still trusted each other. They trusted their neighbors and their neighbors trusted them because they watched out for each other. Americans trusted their media outlets and news sources were widely excepted as respectable organizations that told the truth. Americans also trusted their politicians. They trusted them so much that they returned representatives time and again while they built the greatest government on the face of the planet. A gargantuan beast has been raised by this misplaced trust.

People have learned to turn to government for every remedy. Americans, in particular, wrap themselves completely in a cloak of false-security provided for them by a bloated bureaucracy. People allow themselves to be categorized with numbers that must be produced, to any State official, on demand upon every random request to inspect their papers. They rush to their elected officials seeking aid for every human malady and begging for restitution for every perceived violation of a principle ambiguously called the greater good. They show disregard for the freedom of others and sacrifice their own liberty in the process. Indeed, most Americans take government to bed with them at night and snuggle up to it as if it were a big, fuzzy teddy bear; and, they see it around them all the day as a grand guardian angel.

Why?

Deception is the vehicle by which most freedoms are trucked away to be stored in government warehouses for safe keeping. Not deception so much in the classical sense, as being lied to from without, but rather, it is a deception from within. People have convinced themselves that the State can protect them, even though there is abundant evidence that directly disputes the notion.

For example, living in a relatively large urban area most individuals will falsely assume that the local police force is supposed to protect them. But poll them and you will find few that can remember the last time the police actually prevented a crime from occurring. Sadly, most modern day police forces have been reduced to clean-up crews that spend the majority of their time filling out reports detailing crimes they were unable to prevent.

Even the greatest government on the globe, after erecting huge bureaucratic departments employing thousands of well-trained personnel at a cost of tens of billions, could not protect its citizens from a handful of zealots armed only with box cutters. And still, Americans can lie to themselves so proficiently that they believe the State can and will protect them. And worst of all, too many of them are willing to pay any price imposed upon them just to maintain the illusion of safety and perpetuate the wicked warmth of false security. Now, freedom is lost.

Combining fear, misplaced trust, and a willingness to accept deception with the eagerness of politicians to care for their constituents creates the catalyst, which catapults free individuals into slavery. When it is decided that in the interest of the greater good individual rights must be sacrificed, freedom begins to wane and it becomes only a matter of time until we suffer from the sickness of servitude. And, as long as a majority of the voters remain dedicated to perpetuating the myth of security through greater government, the sickness will continue to spread in epidemic proportions.

Enough is enough. More government always translates into less freedom.


"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind." - John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)


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R. Lee Wrights is a freelance writer, editor and political activist living in North Carolina. He is the co-founder and Editor-in-chief of the free speech online magazine Liberty For All; an Editor for Rational Review News Digest; and, a Contributing Editor for Rational Review. Mr. Wrights also serves as Vice Chairman of the Libertarian National Committee; Vice Chairman of the Libertarian Party of North Carolina; as well as Chairman of The Libertarian Party of Forsyth County. You can contact Mr. Wrights at [email protected].


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