Repeating the Obvious, but whatevs. When different political groups use words like freedom they are often talking past each other. To a liberal, freedom means autonomous decision making with full consent. This is the justification for the social safety net. When people make choices out of bare necessity (the simple bear necessities) they arent truly acting freely. Their economic situation has coerced their decision making. To a libertarian, freedom means autonomous decision making, consent has something to do with this, but economic need or cultural conditioning doesnt really enter the picture. A libertarian sees no need to outlaw price gouging for selling water to dying men in the desert, the just price is the price agreed upon, and the fact the trade has taken place means that both are better off. Even if you are in a bare bargaining position there is still bargaining going on. The fact that the bargaining is one sided doenst mean a thing as long as fraud has not taken place. The conservative will often appeal to an ideal of ordered liberty. The conservative believes that our rationality is conditioned by our social relationships and our freedom from federal dictate is only as powerful as our ability to master our passions and make federal dictates unnecessary. This constitutes the core divide in what liberals and conservatives mean by freedom. That I understand myself in social relationships to clubs, churches, work etc. is a feature, not a bug for a liberal. For the liberal, the fact I rely on civil society in times of hardship and the fact that civil society is making moral demands of me, let us say a private soup kitchen makes me listen to a sermon before feeding me, is an affront to my freedom and my autonomy. Any conversion I make to a soup kitchen sermon is coerced by necessity.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 15:02:45 +0000
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