The Problem of Freedom

Framing the Issues that Threaten Democracy

De: Scott Robinson

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Freedom is different things to different people.

To some, it’s the freedom to go wherever you want on your bicycle. To others, it’s the freedom to vote for a new mayor. To others, it’s the freedom to speak your mind in public, even if what you say is unflattering to the mayor.

Some treasure their freedom to go to church. Or to have a job. Or to have food and shelter.

For some, freedom means refusing service to those who look or behave differently. To deny their wives and daughters the liberties their peers and sons enjoy. For some, it’s the freedom to shun the immigrant. The freedom to manipulate industry, unhindered by rules. The freedom to plunder the public treasury. The freedom to deceive others without consequence. Freedom to defy the government, even in matters of public safety.

Yes, this freedom is a tricky thing. And over the past few decades, we've watched it deteriorate; it is no longer as extensive or robust as it was in our youth.

What follows is an exercise in penetrating that ephemerality and teasing out some properties of freedom we can work with as we ponder how we can act to bolster it, as an array of forces and bad actors seek to drive it out of our United States.