Are You Free Or Just 'Freer'? When I was a child, Americans were proud because they were FREE. Now I find most Americans proclaiming they are 'freer.' When I attempt to point out how Americans are being enslaved, most of them will say, "It may be bad, but we're freer than any people anywhere else on earth." Personally, I would differ with that analysis, but this is not the question before us today. Today I am asking why Americans no longer take pride in being FREE? Is it because all the slaves know they are not free, so they can only proclaim themselves to be 'freer'?
If a man or group of men can force me to act against my will and against my conscience, then I am a slave. If my liberties are controlled, regulated and sold to me, then they are no longer liberties, but privileges. If one person or many can command specific performance from me without paying me for my performance, I am a slave!
Now, it may be true that someone else has a harsher master than I, who demands more performance or imposes more regulation, but it matters not what degree of slavery I suffer if I am a slave. After all, my master can become harsher or change the rules any time he wishes. If he has power over me he can impose his will in any manner he chooses. My status as a slave does not depend on the kind of master I have. My status of slave arises out of my belief that I am under the absolute power of another.
Today, most Americans would run out and buy a walking license if some "government agent" demanded it. If their masters demanded they purchase a permit to mow their lawn most of them would comply. This belief that they are under the absolute power of someone else makes them a slave. It matters not that the masters have not yet demanded such license or permit. What matters is the fact that the slaves would comply if ordered to do so.
There is no doubt, this slavery of the American people has been self imposed; for rape is not rape if one does not struggle. I can assure you that Americans did not struggle. They went meekly into chains while murmuring 'render unto Caesar.' It was quite a feat to turn the posterity of Freedom loving men of courage into sniveling cowards who welcome servitude over the animating contest of liberty and resposibility for themselves.
In Concentration Camps?
The posterity of Freemen now proclaim themselves to be 'freer,' and will continue to do so even when they must shout it from the confines of a concentration camp. They will be so sure that somewhere someone is more in bondage than they!
How would it be if we proclaimed ourselves 'slaver' rather than 'freer'? Is a slave any less a slave simply because his master allows him more privileges than the massah down the road allows his slaves? If we are only free to exercise and enjoy massah's privileges, then we're not free in any sense of the word.
John Stuart Mills once said: "The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way." If we are pursuing someone else's good in the way they decide is best, then this does not deserve the name of 'freedom.'
Servitude is defined as "submission to a master." Forced action rather than free will action is a mark of slavery, and it matters not that some are compelled less than others.
I think I'll lose my dinner the next time I hear some American coward happily explain how much 'freer' he is than a Russian slave. If he's willing to be 'freer' rather than FREE, he's already a slave and either too cowardly or too dumb to see the light!
I'm not satisfied with being 'freer.' For I am a child of God my Creator who has made me free by his perfect Law of Liberty. If the enjoyment of Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness can have man-made conditions placed upon them, then they are not mine to enjoy.
Had to guess at the date. The article was not dated but I subscribed to that magazine back in the 80's. I thought that today would be a good day to reflect on this question. I agree with the author in that I am not satisfied with being "freer" than some abject slave in another country. Not that I wish for anyone to be a slave but lots of Americans have fought and died so that we could actually be FREE. Happy 4th of July to everyone.