Freedom

One definition of freedom: a condition of being free; the power to act, speak or think without externally imposed restraints.  This sounds very nice, but it is impractical and an impossibility in any society that has been established thus far on Earth. It is clear that one needs to define how much freedom an individual should have to function within any given society. Americans perceive themselves as being free, and yet we have many laws that inhibit many of our actions. True freedom would lead to anarchy, and it is expressed to one degree or another in the form of a power structure. To have a truly free society would require that each and every individual would have to have a highly developed moral and ethical set of principles that would allow a society to function without any laws. It is clearly not a condition that exists in any of today’s societies, nor is there any evidence that they existed in the past.

If one realizes the true meaning of freedom, there is less likelihood to get caught up in the emotional content of the term. It is not clear what many Middle-Eastern countries mean when they suggest they want freedom; the only thing that is clear is the fact that they don’t want the power structure in place. In the end one power structure will be replaced with another, and there will be another segment of the population that will be deprived of their freedom. Many of us in America seem to think that the freedom these people are fighting for is the same freedom that we have, neither of which represent real freedom.            

Our species is incapable of functioning with a truly free society; the best we can hope for is something that approaches a free society, but we appear to be moving further away from this goal instead of gravitating towards it. A freer society is not impossible, but given our form of socialization it is highly improbable. Our society appears intent on taking many of the nuggets of understanding into the processes of behavioral development by psychologist, and applying these nuggets to the manipulation of individuals in a manner that is intended to produce an individual that mimics an automaton rather than a free analytical thinker. One might think that many of the psychological findings could be applied to enhance the individual’s ability to think analytically, but there is no money in that; it would also not be acceptable from the standpoint of many of our political leaders, that would rather not have a critical eye questioning their actions and motivation. Many of our representatives are content to keep the electorate in the compliant mode that many voters are in.

It was clear that our Founders considered an education an indispensable element for the furtherance of our system; it is also clear that most of the limitations would be self-imposed, rather than imposed by the state or Federal government. The government is only concerned that the illusion of freedom being maintained within the general public. If the electorate opened their eyes, and looked at the wide range of legislation that is passed by the Federal Government, states, counties, cities, and their agencies, it would be clear that we fall short of the dictionary’s definition of freedom.

One should always find out what definition is being applied by a person, group, or nation before committing oneself to a person or group. This is not the position we have taken in the Middle-East, or with other nations and groups around the world. Since it is safe to say that there are no free nations in the world, the only thing remaining is to determine what the term means to the user of the word. One can only hope that each of us will become more attentive to the emotive terms that are intended to elicit a response that may not be to our benefit. True freedom can only be viable if the individual applies the correct internal constraints; if we wish to accomplish this, we had better start to educate our citizens. Don’t expect that this will be accomplished by our society in your lifetime.