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Before stating that the concept of freedom is overrated, one must first establish a clear understanding of what is meant by 'freedom.' Freedom, over the centuries, has had different meanings, and how it is viewed varies from culture to culture and is dependent upon the circumstances that exist.

Francois Guizot, in his treatise on European civilization, described four states of society. In one, the citizens have easy lives with a material existence that is happy and well regulated, but intellectual and moral existence is kept in a state of torpor and inactivity. In a second, life is less comfortable materially, but the moral and intellectual wants are not neglected. In a third, there is great individual liberty, but there is much disorder and inequality; it is an empire of force and chance. In the fourth state of society there is great individual liberty and no inequality, but no individual has a sense of public responsibility. In which of these states of society would we say there exists freedom, or would we have to admit that there are different kinds and degrees of freedom?

Ask a slave if there could be such a thing as too much freedom. Now, ask that slave's master the same question. The thought that the concept of freedom is overrated will depend upon the status of the person doing the thinking.

People who hold the view that freedom is a concept that is made too much of, are in actuality not thinking about freedom as it has been envisioned by philosophers and thinkers down through the ages; they think instead of 'license.' Something akin to Guizot's fourth state of society; a kind of 'dog eat dog' kind of liberty where it is everyone for him or herself without regard to others. This is not really freedom, it is anarchy.

The freedom that Thomas Jefferson and the other founding fathers envisioned when they wrote of the 'inalienable' rights of man, is a concept that is not overrated, it is under appreciated. It is, in fact, not 'inalienable,' for a despotic government or individual complacency can cause it to be taken away. It is, however, a right that should not be taken away. It is the freedom that was aspired to in the English Bill of Rights of 1689; the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789, and in the Virginia Declaration of rights in 1776, authored by George Mason, and paraphrased in the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution. It is both freedom from and freedom to. Freedom from unreasonable search and seizure; freedom of religion, speech and assembly. If one reads these documents, it is amazing how across decades and cultures, and despite the very different conditions under which they were written, there is a certain universality to them.

When the United Nations Charter was written in 1945, followed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, we find similar sentiments agreed to by the founding states of the United Nations; states with widely different political systems and cultures. Even in nations today that violate these very freedoms, there is at least tacit acceptance that individuals are entitled to them.

Perhaps the best answer to the charge that freedom is an overrated concept is found in the words of Thomas Jefferson's first inaugural address:

"All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle. That though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable. That the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate which would be oppression."

Learn more about this author, Charles Ray.
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