Freedom and Virtue
Posted by JohnBrown 10 years, 8 months ago to Philosophy
Is a high degree of responsibility necessary for the people to live in freedom? Do the people have to be responsible, honest, and hard-working—in a word, virtuous—before they can handle freedom? It can be a chicken-and-egg argument, certainly. Do the people lose their virtue and then lose their liberty? Or, do they gradually lose their liberty and then lose their virtue, in proportion? The cause and effect is important, because it provides a clue about how best to restore freedom. If the former, then the people must be taught virtue again, presumably by the State. But this approach is hopeless and absurd. Or, the people might somehow be drawn again to religion and absorb the moral teachings therein.
To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.
—James Madison
In any case, if the people lose their virtue and then lose their freedom, there would need to be a moral revival before we could return to freedom. But if the people lose their liberty and then their virtue, the approach is more straightforward: set them free. When people are free to face the full consequences of making poor or immoral choices; when sloth, greed, envy, lying, cheating, stealing, unreliability, and broken promises have real social and economic consequences, they will be induced to become more virtuous. When the State penalizes saving and investment, when it taxes incomes and wealth away, and when it provides unearned benefits for free, it not only discourages positive, productive behavior, it rewards bad character at the same time. It subsidizes bad behavior.
To reward responsibility and penalize irresponsibility, we don't need a moral revival first. Just set everyone free. Let people make mistakes, let them live by their own choices. Let them learn, let them experiment, let them cooperate. Wards of the State are not self-reliant, competent, independent individuals. In freedom, individuals build good character. In freedom, relationships are strengthened; societies become more virtuous. Harry Browne wrote an article on this topic that addresses the issue quite well.
To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.
—James Madison
In any case, if the people lose their virtue and then lose their freedom, there would need to be a moral revival before we could return to freedom. But if the people lose their liberty and then their virtue, the approach is more straightforward: set them free. When people are free to face the full consequences of making poor or immoral choices; when sloth, greed, envy, lying, cheating, stealing, unreliability, and broken promises have real social and economic consequences, they will be induced to become more virtuous. When the State penalizes saving and investment, when it taxes incomes and wealth away, and when it provides unearned benefits for free, it not only discourages positive, productive behavior, it rewards bad character at the same time. It subsidizes bad behavior.
To reward responsibility and penalize irresponsibility, we don't need a moral revival first. Just set everyone free. Let people make mistakes, let them live by their own choices. Let them learn, let them experiment, let them cooperate. Wards of the State are not self-reliant, competent, independent individuals. In freedom, individuals build good character. In freedom, relationships are strengthened; societies become more virtuous. Harry Browne wrote an article on this topic that addresses the issue quite well.
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Freedom is contextual. It does not mean a freaking jungle. It is freedom to live and thrive as the type of beings we are with gives rise to ethics. They are not a free floating abstraction.
It does not require "sacrifice". That is exactly what is NOT required. [Re]read "The Virtue of Selfishness" and get back to us. :)
And that is after years of the Fed started forcing ZIRP.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/samanthashar...
And why does the economy grow at a rate slightly above stagnation? It's like every time you step outside to do something you see state made tornadoes, floods and lighting...You step back inside.
The desire to be free in men is easily illustrated by prisons. Even though all their needs are attended to except for freedom, most prisoners would give anything to be free. Free will and the exercise thereof is why repressive societies inevitably crumble, but the question yet to be answered is why do people fall for societies that go against their very nature? The problem is freedom requires self-reliance. At this point, I will need more space than would be feasible in order to cover the difference between true humans and those who have given up their humanity for the chimera of dependence.
Virtue is a hard-earned state, denying self-indulgence and requiring sacrifice. American minorities poured their blood in military service to secure the freedoms promised in our Constitution.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/tolfa/
People are free because freedom is required for human beings, individually, to be the best they can be. Responsibility, honesty, productivity require freedom. So asking whether people have enough of these qualities to be free rather entirely misses the point.
There is no such thing as virtue where there is no freedom to choose and act upon one's choice.
Maybe it happens like this. A few people don't rise to the occasion. Well-meaning people see we could easily force them to make a few better decisions and improve their lives. They sell these programs, though, as being for everyone. Once they're in place, people don't need to rise to the occasion. They start thinking, "if this investment, food, drug, or whatever were a bad idea for me, the gov't would stop me from using it." People's thinking shifts from what "what should we allow the gov't to do?" to "what should the gov't allow people to do?".
I strongly agree with what you say: "Just set everyone free. Let people make mistakes, let them live by their own choices. Let them learn, let them experiment, let them cooperate." Yes!!!