The Freedom to Leave: Do We Have It?
Posted by LWinn 3 years, 2 months ago to Philosophy
The Ayn Rand Institute web page calls Objectivism “A philosophy for living on Earth.” In an age when leaving Earth seems a real possibility, what does that mean, especially coming from followers of a thinker who demonstrated by word and deed that the freedom to leave is the most fundamental of all freedoms? I believe all Objectivists accept the freedom to leave as fundamental to free enterprise, calling it "competition." Why would it not apply more generally? Why would an Objectivist not seek to integrate the concept into a constitution? Why would an Objectivist not see the value of a high frontier?
The war criminal A. Lincoln showed us what happens when people decide to do as they wish, not what the state forces on them.
If we want the freedom to leave, we will have to fight against the power of the state to get it.
As for the high frontier, I agree that keeping it free is a goal to attempt, but at present that frontier is not available to anyone, and getting freedom here on terra should be the priority until human living (colonization) in the high frontier is probable in the near future.