Do Americans want freedom? Is it too much to ask of "ordinary people?"

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Monday, January 16. 2012

Do Americans want freedom? Is it too much to ask of "ordinary people?"

Did the Founding Fathers make an error? As much as anything else, this Robinson interview with Paul Rahe (that's #5 of 5)captured most of the key political issues with which we Maggie's Farmers are concerned today.

Some people desire to run other peoples' lives for their own good. I wish those Rahe interviews were on YouTube. They deserve to be.

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, many are asking questions about how much freedom most people really want. How much freedom will the average person trade for a bowl of lentils? In other words, for security or for free money?

When I was in 6th Grade, our school had a speech contest, the title being "What Freedom means to me." Mine came in second. If I were doing that speech today, I'd probably come in last. Freedom from involuntary servitude - slavery - is of course basic, but freedom from government power is the beseiged freedom of today, just as it has always been.

At Vanderleun, Comment of the Week So Far: "You know how you can tell that 'everyone wants freedom' is baloney?"

Posted by The Barrister in Our Essays, Politics at 14:04 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

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Your post struck a cord with me. Here in Houston, TX, USA. I was recently doing a cash money transaction with a young Hispanic Female. She was the worker at the cash register, not the owner.

I was spouting off on my perceived wisdom about how an android phone was superior to an Apple iPhone. I have both. I was trying to be gentile and nice about the fact that the iPhone only allows music and software download by Apple's exclusive iTunes and the other Apple online stores. I went on about I hated the straight jacket this made me go through. ETC.

She simply said, "I prefer it that way. " She did not want to choose outside of Apple.

Her English was almost like a native. I could tell that it still was a second language. This does not mean that she was not a citizen. She is most likely as native as I am. 4th generation Texan native to Houston for 22 yrs. Voting age for 30 plus.

Later after being away from the cellphone store I thought of all the posts on Maggies Farm about not nagging people. Because we don't want to be nagged. I thought the perceived, by me, poor education as currently dispensed by public school.

This post " Do Americans want freedom? Is it too much to ask of "ordinary people?".

I have said for more than 20yrs, some people you can't help. This about some immediate siblings. I have lived in 11 states in the past 30 years. I always come across most people that only hope to grow in their small town live there and that is it. Oh it is nice to see images of places and things far away on TV screens. But they will never leave home. They don't know how.

I know this cell phone store. The workers there, it is a part time job. Minimum wage.

I don't think I will forget her preference for a locked down cell phone with no freedom of choice. The reason I was in there was I had a T-Moble android phone. Pre-paid, no contract. I enjoy downloading and paying for Android phone apps. Free ones are great too. I still have the iPhone but I will not update it to the latest. I have not browsed for any iTunes. I have bought a few from Amazon. They make great ring tones on the android. The android plays movies very well too. New technology is so #$%^& great.

The iPhone,it is still there but only for appearance sake. I don't like Apple. I have never rally embraced them. I like them less now.

#1 Houston on 2012-01-16 15:47 (Reply)

My thinking is that most people will choose security over freedom every time.

Those preferences are reflected in a government that cares for the poor and the elderly and a government that tries to regulate risk to zero for a population that is unwilling or unable to assess risk for themselves. It all comes at the cost of freedom.

I think the model of a free republic as envisioned by The Founders is one that has been rejected by the modern world. It has been relegated to the ash heap of history.

#2 feeblemind on 2012-01-16 17:16 (Reply)

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. – Benjamin Franklin

#3 T on 2012-01-17 00:33 (Reply)

Most people have an extremely narrow minded idea of what "freedom" is, and think it's just being allowed to make your choices at the supermarket, quit a job if you don't like it, and vote in an election every few years.

They don't understand that all the other freedoms which they happily give up (or rather, claim others should give up, they don't choose to exercise them themselves or don't even realise they're exercising them) are part of that overal freedom and when they've lost those they've lost what guarantees they had that their bigger freedom which they do crave is up next (and of course there's people who'd not mind loosing those, but want to keep something else, so there's always someone claiming that a particular freedom can be done away with).

If the government were to claim they're removing the freedom to buy the car you want in exchange for removing the road tax, a lot of people would grumble but far more would be happy with it.
If they then next declare that they're removing the freedom to buy a car, allotting them based on some agency's decision as to who needs them most, there'd be some grumbling but a lot of people (including a lot of car owners) would think it wouldn't seriously affect them but would reduce the number of cars on the roads and thus reduce congestion, they'd vote for it because they think they get something out of it (when in reality they'd be the ones to lose their cars of course).
etc. etc. etc.

#4 J.T. Wenting on 2012-01-17 02:18 (Reply)

Many people care only about other freedoms. If the government wants to take away the other freedoms, they could not care less.

A large body of people want freedom from the fact that the facts of life are conservative.

#5 John on 2012-01-17 03:50 (Reply)

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Monday, January 16. 2012

Do Americans want freedom? Is it too much to ask of "ordinary people?"