Comes The Dawn
14. Freedom to Choose—But What?
FREEDOM TO CHOOSE—BUT WHAT?
Between two evils, choose neither; between two goods, choose both.
—TYRON EDWARDS
I, along with many others, have defined liberty over and over again as freedom of choice. By this we have meant that each individual should be free to choose his employment, to price his offerings of goods and services, to decide how the fruits of his labor shall be expended, to exchange what and with whom he pleases, and so on. However, it is just beginning to dawn on me that choice—choosing—has numerous interpretations other than mine. So, here is my attempt at refinement.
As a start, I would modify Tyron Edwards’ sage advice to read: “Reject all that is evil; respect all that is good.”
What are the few great evils? They are set forth in the Ten Commandments and include: Thou shalt not kill; Thou shalt not bear false witness; Thou shalt not covet; Thou shalt not steal. To examine one of these evils—stealing—should suffice to explain why it is best to reject what is evil and to choose what is good.
A Robinsoe Crusoe, of course, has no one to steal from. But let others appear in the territory and there is a network of relationships. This is a society, the persons in it being at once individualistic and social beings. The problem of what is mine and what is thine immediately arises. Stealing becomes possible. The moment anyone claims any scarce and valuable item there arises the question as to whether others will respect such claims or try to steal the property. Respect for private property leads to specialization and trade, the basis for a peaceful and prosperous society.
But what shall we say about stealing, beyond saying it’s wrong? In the first place, a thief experiences no net gain—regardless of how great the loot he gamers, and even if not caught. Admittedly, this is contrary to his warped judgment, even to popular opinion. If he is caught, a jail sentence would be the least of the penalties visited upon him. He suffers the loss of respect by his fellow men—ostracism—for who will engage in free exchange with a thief? But reflect on the penalty if not caught: the destruction of his soul—life’s purpose enormously dulled. He who steals is his own worst enemy!
Can the term “free exchange” be applied to the relationship between a thief and his victim? Obviously not! A person is free to choose an evil act as well as a good one, but to choose theft is to violate freedom and to practice plunder! To grasp this point, one needs only to recognize that each of us is in society and, thus, each is, in this respect, a social being. Freedom is, therefore, a dual relationship; my freedom depends on yours and vice versa.
It should be self-evident that every act of theft—coercion of any sort—is a denial of freedom. Were the thief intelligent—a fanciful assumption—he would say of his acts: “I elect to feather my own nest at the expense of others by coercion and cheating. I have no respect for property rights; I repudiate the freedom of others to choose or reject free exchange. Others are not my equal, with rights to be respected; they are but sources for me to plunder.”
It is a fair guess that nearly all Americans frown on the common thief—he who feathers his nest at the expense of others. But an equally fair guess is that these same “righteous” citizens are feathering their nests—wholly or partially—at the expense of others. One more guess: All the loot garnered in the private practice of theft is but a tiny fraction of that taken in our annual political sweepstakes for the purpose of redistributing wealth.
That the thief resorts to coercion—hidden or open—is self-evident. Yet, so do the millions of “innocents”—those who are unaware that their government “grants” are derived by the same malicious method. The special privilege any of us receives from government is forcefully taxed away from some rightful owner. Examples in the United States today are so numerous that no one can count them. They range from paying farmers not to grow crops to subsidizing other people’s hospital bills to paying higher prices for goods and services by reason of labor union coercive tactics, protective tariffs, and similar interventions on behalf of persons or groups.
If the common thief is regarded as a rogue, then why don’t the millions who feed at the government trough think of themselves as such? Rarely does anyone bother to question what “everybody is doing.” But the more widespread the practice, the more important to ask: “Why do they do it?” For more reasons than I shall ever know, but here are several:
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The tug of tradition; Serfdom, Feudalism, Mercantilism, and the like. Our “planned economy” and “welfare state” are only new labels for old and accepted ways of politico-economic plundering.
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When celebrated individuals—those with big titles like Lord John Maynard Keynes, for instance—insist that we can spend ourselves rich, a something-for-nothing way of life, those who do no thinking for themselves accept this nonsense. They steal far more than common thieves, while entertaining the notion that they are helping their victims!
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“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.”1
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Enforced mediocrity! Politicians who look only to the next election, as contrasted to statesmen who look to oncoming generations, force their know-nothingness on the millions, most of whom welcome this relief from self-responsibility. Instead of rising to the challenge of competition, men are drawn down by the false lure of something for nothing.
In the above I have defined the evil in order to reject it. Now I shall pay my respects to what is good, so that I may choose the good. Why “I” and not “we”? I believe that everyone—no exception—should be free to act creatively as he or she chooses, and that I am endowed with no command over anyone else, nor would I accept it if offered. The single person over whom I choose to have power is yours truly—the power to expand my own creativity!
On what is this belief in individual responsibility founded? Each human being is unique, no two remotely alike.2 Indeed, no one of us stays put; creatively we either deteriorate or expand from moment to moment. Further, there has never been an instance of creativity expanded by force or command. Rather, creativity flowers exclusively from free will which, according to my dictionary, is “the human will regarded as free from restraints, compulsions; freedom of decision or choice.”3
Above all, what in the realm of this thesis is good? It is enlightened self-interest: attending to one’s own creative expansion. If at all successful, this evolving is, according to the brilliant Frederic Bastiat, “. . . so illuminating, so constant, and so penetrating, when it is left free of hindrance.” Thus, brighten one’s own light and, if bright enough, those who seek light will see it; they will choose the good. Of course, freely share with those who care!
To see the good that I may choose the good requires a recognition not only of my skimpy wisdom but, also, of everyone else’s finitude. To compare my finite consciousness to Infinite Consciousness as an atom to a galaxy would be a gross exaggeration! Each separate ego is infinitesimal, and all are different. Were everyone identical to any “I”—Socrates, you, me, or anyone who lives—all would perish. A moment’s reflection and this is self-evident.
Very well! the required awareness is within the range of anyone capable of thinking for self. Each of us is unique; everyone has a tiny bit of expertise at this or that, and there are as many variations as there are human beings.
How then do I best live, grow, prosper, move in the direction of my unrealized potentialities? Choose the good—freedom! This allows me to do anything I choose that is peaceful and allows all others the same. The benefit to be derived? I will serve others with whatever expertise I possess, and their uniqueness will serve me. As set forth in the beginning, this is what I mean by freedom of choice.
In this manner, may we be servants of all and servile to none!
