My Freedom

What is freedom? I've been asking myself this question for a long time now. I really want to know what constitutes freedom so that I will know whether I have it or not. All the time, people are saying how lucky they are to have 'freedom'. People celebrate holidays, sing songs and support programs that remind us to be proud of our freedom. Other people are so proud of their freedom that they feel it their duty to 'share' that freedom with other nations by sending troops to help fight for freedom. But all this talk about freedom still doesn't answer my question: What IS freedom?

Some years ago, my husband and I were looking for a home to purchase. We came across places called “Gated Communities”. These special places had “covenants” for the home-owners whose purpose was to make the community a better place for everyone. These covenants might include a limit on the number and kind of pets one could own, a limit on the number of children, a curfew for noise or lights, certain requirements for lawn/yard upkeep, limits or requirements for fences, limits on the number and time that vehicles could be parked in the street, fees for extra snow removal services, fees for special street lighting and the list might go on and on. These types of communities were becoming very popular when we were first looking for a home. People thought of it as a type of insurance against certain 'problems' that arise in home-ownership. In their minds, the greater restrictions translated into better living.

It seems fairly obvious to me that this is a question of freedom. Certainly, we are free to join or not join the gated community. And just as certainly, those who join the community and sign the covenants must be willing to relinquish some of their freedom to do so. They also must, at least at the outset, feel that giving up their freedom in some measure is repaid with greater comfort, convenience and safety.

With the aforementioned in mind, what actually is freedom, why, were people willing to die for it and if freedom is so wonderful and worth having, why are we so quick to give it up?

Freedom, in my opinion (and I'm afraid we each have to define this for ourselves) is the inalienable right to live without the dominance or restriction of another, provided we do not dominate or restrict anyone else. To say that it is inalienable (to quote the Declaration of Independence) merely means that it is yours and cannot be severed, removed, given or sold from yourself.

By this broad definition we are free. The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is inalienable and cannot be taken, given or sold by us or anyone else. America, at it's beginning, declared this truth to the world, but the truth was always there. The next question then comes to mind: Why were people willing to die for freedom, and we also might wonder why anyone had to die for it if freedom is inalienable? The answer, I suppose, is that there was someone who was forcibly attempting to alienate them from their freedom. If freedom and liberty are essential, then I can understand fighting to the death to maintain it. This too, seems obvious.

Now, in my generation, I have witnessed a new thing. I will call it “Freedom from my neighbor's freedom.” People, and the governments and programs they run, think themselves very generous to allow or forcibly disallow their fellow creatures their inalienable rights. Not only that, they consider it a wise investment to sell or sign away their own rights of privacy, ownership or movement to purchase some kind of feeling of safety, from their neighbor. Like the covenant communities who willingly relinquish a large portion of real freedom in order to maintain a certain “standard of living”.

Today, I feel like I'm living in a huge gated community. Although I personally did not sign the covenants but only inherited them, I am still bound by their restrictions. The restrictions are so vast, so all-encompassing, so encroaching, so dangerous and so oppressive that I am almost afraid to leave my home for fear that I might be in a state of non-compliance. I own nothing but what is taxed. If I cannot pay the tax I might be imprisoned. I can do nothing but what is licensed. I am the object of surveillance in nearly every private and public building I enter. Everything from what I eat to what I teach my children is the object of scrutiny and is subject to oversight and possible arrest. My freedom of speech is limited to “Free Speech Zones”. I am allowed to worship as I please, or at least I am allowed to attend the church of my choice, as long as I do not mention the name of my Deity at certain times and in certain places and for certain reasons and as long as my mention of him does not in any way offend someone, and as long as I do not mention any doctrine of his that might be construed as an insult to someone's way of life. And, my right to bear arms is limited and controlled with licensing, registration and regulation. It would take me several years (and literally thousands of pages) to track down all the laws, covenants, rules, regulations, restrictions and guidelines I am bound by in this (free?) gated community.

If freedom is inalienable, as Thomas Jefferson said, then no person can actually take it from me. I have it. If freedom is something you can give away, sell or have taken from you, then I do not have it and never did. If freedom is only an idea that exists in my mind, then I can have it with me, even when I am in bondage to someone or something else. If freedom is actually the ability to act for one's self without the restrictions of another then freedom has probably not been on this planet since the Garden of Eden.

So, what it freedom? Do we have it? Is it worth fighting for? Who do we fight? Who is really the enemy? What will fighting achieve? Where does the fighting end?

I have ended with more questions than I began with. I'm sure this means that I have much more to learn before coming to any definite conclusions. But I have learned one thing: Somewhere, someone lost something called freedom in this country, and the only thing left of it is a nice word to put in speeches and songs on holidays and all the fighting in the world hasn't succeeded in bringing it back or giving it to anyone else.