The Freedom Problem
Ben Shapiro is often talking about living in a country together with people of many diverse backgrounds must have a common set of values. Over the last decade we have watched our country polarize into increasingly entrenched sects over things that should garner broad support. The main problem is the resurgence of ideas from the late 19th and early 20th century western European philosophers dominating leftist thought. Perhaps the most alarming example is the disagreement we are currently having regarding the definition of freedom.
In a libertarian sense freedom is derived from an individual’s rights to engage in the actions and behaviors they deem most appropriate for themselves. However, are those really true freedoms? Freedom to die does not seem like a very good freedom. According to the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic party this is exactly the problem with the freedoms we have today.
In fact, none of us are really free in the first place. Sure, you can homestead in Wyoming with a composting toilet, rain catchers, and a few solar panels. For the masses however most of us are conscripted into a machine which we did not chose to be a part of in the first place. How can you even begin to grasp the true meaning of freedom when you have been indoctrinated in culture that gone unchecked ultimately lays out the groundwork for oppression.
The freedom problem comes into play when an individual has choice according to the left. When an individual has choices how does that person know that they are making the correct one? In the absence of knowledge or experience individuals turn to power centers looking for answers to make decisions. Often the people in control at those power centers abuse those looking for answers and solidify their position as the master in control of slaves.
In essence you are not free in our current system of governance because of the existence of nature. You should not be free to choose your occupation, your home you live, and the type of healthcare plan you chose. You should be FREE from having to make any of the decisions at all.
This is where Bernie Sanders gets his famous line “healthcare is a human right.” You are not truly free until you are elevated from having healthcare, food, shelter, and occupational insecurities. Further, you should be free from being made to feel bad about anything at all. If that sounds familiar that is because this is the promise of Marxism as Lenin once said “peace, land, and bread!”
Individual freedom is messy thing for a country and a society. People are allowed to believe, say, and do some truly abhorrent things. That is the thing with freedom you are free to choose to engage or not engage in all sorts of activities. The government of Singapore owns 90% of the entire land of the city and 80% of all housing so its residents benefit from affordable, price controlled, and government run housing. This trade for allowing the benefit of government owned housing means the government can tell where you can live, cannot live, and who you live with.
The true currency of human rights is freedom. How much control are you willing to relinquish in order to live in an orderly society is the cost you pay. There are literally entire religions devoted around the notion of human suffering and coming to grips with it. Unfortunately, there is no government in the entire history of our