by Morgan Philpott

Created on: July 21, 2008

To such surface level conditioning as we are accustomed, freedom is a self-evident good, wholly unassailable in its worth. As is often the case when one turns to the articulation of any lofty abstraction, the mind is at first overrun with symbols and phrases that fall short in conveying a functional definition. Popular images (a battle-scarred flag on a smoky battlefield, Mel Gibson's final cry in "Braveheart") do not serve the rational attempt well, but only further cloud the common conception, which already is an unhelpful clutter of national pride and half-grasped scraps of rallying cries and proclamations drawn clumsily from their original contexts. All this is to say that the average person often has very little of substance in connection to the hallowed word; I am no exception a mere mention of the term in my hearing is enough to cue Greenwood's innocently ethnocentric tune, "I'm proud to be an American / where at least I know I'm free" (mindless conditioning: patriotism has no root whatsoever in my heart).

If all that is meant by "freedom" can be summed up in emotivism and visceral appeals, it would seem that the principle lacks the real value that would validate its proverbial demand for men's blood. Yet there is another level of meaning and a quite valid interpretation that frequently intersects even the layman's understanding. I speak of course of modern democracy's closest companion and the sacred cow of the West: Capitalism, nigh unfettered trading, private property. Certainly, the perceived maneuverability of our economic state (and the everlasting American myth of self-determinism) is a factor that lends bulk to the fragile construct under consideration. (For myself, I grew up convinced of the necessity of Capitalism and still see its tempered form as most compatible with human nature. "Tempered" is the operative word: A. Rand's world is not the ideal I would embrace.)

As members of society, we all recognize that there are some freedoms that are generally non-conducive to happiness, as well as dangerous if universally enjoyed. The tax of harmony and our insurance fee against a "poor, nasty, brutish and short" life is the forfeiture of such rights as would be needed to survive if the government were not playing the role of protector. Most people I should hope find this a small price to pay for stable community and recognize the appeal of the intellectual freedoms that replace the animal instincts. At any rate, the degree of social and commercial

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>