Posted by Tom Kershaw in
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Welcome to part 3 of my little series on freedom as THEE sees it. We started with Individual Freedom, moved on to Freedom in Organizations and now, the big one folks… Freedom in Society!
I tend to see freedom in society as a two-part equation, with both parts equally important. We need balance, like in an algebraic expression.
On one side, society accounts for the full range of human diversity. People should be free to believe what they want, pursue the activities and interests that they feel are appropriate for them, practice whatever lifestyle they choose and, in short, be themselves freely without fear or oppression. This includes all manner of races, religions, genders and sexual orientations. The caveat being, of course, they don’t hurt anyone else doing whatever it is they do.
You could say that understanding and using THEE rests almost entirely on this principle: awareness and respect for diversity is paramount and that achievement is inextricably wrapped up in identity. However, THEE goes much further than race, religion, etc. in identity identification. These are but superficial human qualities in comparison to things like THEE mentalities—fixed mindsets about how you decide or how you get on with others. This is, and has been, a topic for another blog.
The West has made incredible strides in the arena of accepting diversity and allowing people to live out their lives in peace. There is much work to be done, but if viewed from the perspective of all of human history, the last 100 years or so has seen major breakthroughs from allowing women to vote to the Civil Rights movement, the feminist movement, the gay rights movement and more.
There are many parts of the world that cannot say the same—be it the treatment of Kurds in Iraq or Christians in Egypt or homosexuals and women in the Muslim world. Many people still hide and/or fight for their lives simply because of who they are.
But Western society (though we couldn’t say the same for our governments), is heading in the right direction, I think. The time is right for us to delve deeper into what makes people different and diverse. See above links on identity, decision and getting along with others to get started.
It’s the other side of the equation where things appear to be headed down a dark path.
To get a clear picture, let’s think in terms of another ultimate value for a moment: equality.
Ideals of social equality can be viewed two ways: equality of opportunity or equality of result.
Perhaps as a byproduct of advancements in our first type of freedom (freedom of identity), the West seems to have chosen to prefer equality of opportunity. This is not a new concept by any means. For an eloquent and poignant argument, read Friedrich Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom.
We as a society have adopted a set of values where the goal, the endgame, is an equal standard of living for all. It comes from a place of goodwill in the human spirit and it is the blueprint for the West’s social welfare democracies. But in the end it hampers freedom.
THEE outlines the benefits of freedom of opportunity in the Spiral of Political Maturation’s Individualist Mode. When freedom of opportunity trumps equality of result, we get a prosperous society where there is incentive to work hard, use your talents and get creative. America, for example, has always been called by its residents “The Land of Opportunity” where any industrious citizen or immigrant can make a nice life for themselves based on their merits and hard work.
But cries of inequality have paved the way to a culture of entitlement, where government appears to be the solution for everything. We look to government to stamp out poverty and hunger—and they (sort of) do with food and cash assistance. We look to government to provide us with education—which they do (in the U.S.) with government loans. We look to government to provide us with housing—and they do in government housing projects. We look to government to provide us with ever more safety and security—which they do with an ever-growing prison system, paramilitary police forces, enormous military expenditures, surveillance systems, the PATRIOT Act, the NDAA and on and on and on.
Like frogs in boiling water, some of us are starting to see the bubbles rise to the surface. POP! You need the government to eat, perhaps the most basic human need. Better not rock the boat or you might starve. POP! You’re tens of thousands of dollars in debt to the government for your college degree. It’s turning into a rolling boil now. Housing projects are festering sores on society, seeding the ever-expanding prison industrial complex. The water is roaring, steam is pouring out. You’re being watched everywhere you go, drones fly over your neighborhood, your phone is being tapped, all your emacils are screened and police show up to peaceful protests with grenade launchers and tanks—and it’s all completely legal.
This is not freedom. It’s polite totalitarianism. And anyone courageous enough to call it as they see it is a paranoid lunatic.
Not to mention, the expanding bureaucracy and the constant call for tighter, stricter regulations chokes the private sector, the common man’s only chance at class mobility. For example, it costs $14,000 to get a two-year permit to sell $1 hot dogs on the street in New York City. The poorly-conceived decisions of the financial class (who are propped-up by government-funded corporate welfare, the other side of the corporatocracy coin) have paralyzed banks and business loans are next to impossible to come by.
The next technological revolution, the next activist entrepreneur, the next small business in your neighborhood could be buried under a pile of red tape.
Do you want job security? Get a government job. In countries like France and Germany, the public sector accounts for between 30 and 40% of the economy. Unfortunately, governments don’t make money; they only spend their people’s money. But who will be left to pay taxes? A government employee paying taxes is as ridiculous as a central bank printing money. It does absolutely no good for the bottom line. They’re currently making up for it in France by taxing people up to 75% of their income. Where is the incentive to succeed?
The expanding network of problems is so tight; there is no visible way to extricate ourselves from it. Society needs a complete reordering. And the only thing that can do that is some sort of meltdown. And it’s a major bummer, but THEE saw it coming—from the rising power of the financial class to the growth of the welfare state to the inevitable crash.
*Sigh…*
The saddest part: we brought all of this on ourselves.
There will come a time with this blog will be dated and we’ll have to reevaluate freedom in society.
Until then…
I hope to see you, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on the other side, ready to put some work into a new and better world.
I tend to see freedom in society as a two-part equation, with both parts equally important. We need balance, like in an algebraic expression.
On one side, society accounts for the full range of human diversity. People should be free to believe what they want, pursue the activities and interests that they feel are appropriate for them, practice whatever lifestyle they choose and, in short, be themselves freely without fear or oppression. This includes all manner of races, religions, genders and sexual orientations. The caveat being, of course, they don’t hurt anyone else doing whatever it is they do.
You could say that understanding and using THEE rests almost entirely on this principle: awareness and respect for diversity is paramount and that achievement is inextricably wrapped up in identity. However, THEE goes much further than race, religion, etc. in identity identification. These are but superficial human qualities in comparison to things like THEE mentalities—fixed mindsets about how you decide or how you get on with others. This is, and has been, a topic for another blog.
The West has made incredible strides in the arena of accepting diversity and allowing people to live out their lives in peace. There is much work to be done, but if viewed from the perspective of all of human history, the last 100 years or so has seen major breakthroughs from allowing women to vote to the Civil Rights movement, the feminist movement, the gay rights movement and more.
There are many parts of the world that cannot say the same—be it the treatment of Kurds in Iraq or Christians in Egypt or homosexuals and women in the Muslim world. Many people still hide and/or fight for their lives simply because of who they are.
But Western society (though we couldn’t say the same for our governments), is heading in the right direction, I think. The time is right for us to delve deeper into what makes people different and diverse. See above links on identity, decision and getting along with others to get started.
It’s the other side of the equation where things appear to be headed down a dark path.
To get a clear picture, let’s think in terms of another ultimate value for a moment: equality.
Ideals of social equality can be viewed two ways: equality of opportunity or equality of result.
Perhaps as a byproduct of advancements in our first type of freedom (freedom of identity), the West seems to have chosen to prefer equality of opportunity. This is not a new concept by any means. For an eloquent and poignant argument, read Friedrich Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom.
We as a society have adopted a set of values where the goal, the endgame, is an equal standard of living for all. It comes from a place of goodwill in the human spirit and it is the blueprint for the West’s social welfare democracies. But in the end it hampers freedom.
THEE outlines the benefits of freedom of opportunity in the Spiral of Political Maturation’s Individualist Mode. When freedom of opportunity trumps equality of result, we get a prosperous society where there is incentive to work hard, use your talents and get creative. America, for example, has always been called by its residents “The Land of Opportunity” where any industrious citizen or immigrant can make a nice life for themselves based on their merits and hard work.
But cries of inequality have paved the way to a culture of entitlement, where government appears to be the solution for everything. We look to government to stamp out poverty and hunger—and they (sort of) do with food and cash assistance. We look to government to provide us with education—which they do (in the U.S.) with government loans. We look to government to provide us with housing—and they do in government housing projects. We look to government to provide us with ever more safety and security—which they do with an ever-growing prison system, paramilitary police forces, enormous military expenditures, surveillance systems, the PATRIOT Act, the NDAA and on and on and on.
Like frogs in boiling water, some of us are starting to see the bubbles rise to the surface. POP! You need the government to eat, perhaps the most basic human need. Better not rock the boat or you might starve. POP! You’re tens of thousands of dollars in debt to the government for your college degree. It’s turning into a rolling boil now. Housing projects are festering sores on society, seeding the ever-expanding prison industrial complex. The water is roaring, steam is pouring out. You’re being watched everywhere you go, drones fly over your neighborhood, your phone is being tapped, all your emacils are screened and police show up to peaceful protests with grenade launchers and tanks—and it’s all completely legal.
This is not freedom. It’s polite totalitarianism. And anyone courageous enough to call it as they see it is a paranoid lunatic.
Not to mention, the expanding bureaucracy and the constant call for tighter, stricter regulations chokes the private sector, the common man’s only chance at class mobility. For example, it costs $14,000 to get a two-year permit to sell $1 hot dogs on the street in New York City. The poorly-conceived decisions of the financial class (who are propped-up by government-funded corporate welfare, the other side of the corporatocracy coin) have paralyzed banks and business loans are next to impossible to come by.
The next technological revolution, the next activist entrepreneur, the next small business in your neighborhood could be buried under a pile of red tape.
Do you want job security? Get a government job. In countries like France and Germany, the public sector accounts for between 30 and 40% of the economy. Unfortunately, governments don’t make money; they only spend their people’s money. But who will be left to pay taxes? A government employee paying taxes is as ridiculous as a central bank printing money. It does absolutely no good for the bottom line. They’re currently making up for it in France by taxing people up to 75% of their income. Where is the incentive to succeed?
The expanding network of problems is so tight; there is no visible way to extricate ourselves from it. Society needs a complete reordering. And the only thing that can do that is some sort of meltdown. And it’s a major bummer, but THEE saw it coming—from the rising power of the financial class to the growth of the welfare state to the inevitable crash.
*Sigh…*
The saddest part: we brought all of this on ourselves.
There will come a time with this blog will be dated and we’ll have to reevaluate freedom in society.
Until then…
I hope to see you, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on the other side, ready to put some work into a new and better world.
About Me
- Tom Kershaw
- Hi! I'm Tom and I am a full-time writer, musician, and father to a firecracker of a four year-old. My wife and I lease our house and cars from her in hopes that her considerable talents of mess-making, princess-impersonation, and stuffed animal-whispering will pay off and fund our eventual retirement in the south of France.