Freedom!

 

“The public will believe anything, so long as it is not founded on truth.”
  - Edith Sitwell

The Collins Gage Canadian Dictionary defines the word freedom as follows:

“1. The state or condition of being free;

2. free use;

3. lack of restraint, frankness;

4. ease of movement or action.”

We’ve heard a lot about freedom in the last couple of years. Most strongly was the so called “Freedom Convoy” in Ottawa in early 2022.  They cried for freedom, most notably from Covid restrictions. They wanted to live their lives without masks or vaccines. Of course, there was no laws against such things.  They were ‘free’ to do just what they wanted in this regard. It is just that there were consequences if they did so such as not being able to enter the United States. But their demands went beyond that for many participants.  They wanted unfettered freedom for just about everything.  Other movements have also demanded this.  Freedom from taxes. Freedom from police. Freedom to protest. Freedom to own and carry firearms. Freedom to ignore governments and laws. Freedom from any responsibility. Unlimited freedom. Even freedom from religion.

“All human situations have their inconveniences. We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we often make troublesome changes without amendment, and frequently for the worse.”
  - Benjamin Franklin

There is a word for this type of freedom . . . anarchy. An ugly word in many ways.

If we all lived apart from each other with no interaction, then absolute freedom may be possible.  But the moment we interact, there has to be limits.  We don’t live alone; we live in societies. We live in families. We live with neighbours with whom we interact. We live in communities large and small. We live in provinces and states, and in countries. 

Because we live with others, there must be limits, usually codified as laws.  We must not be able to kill others or otherwise do harm.  We must not be able to steal from others. We must have rules of how we govern ourselves, whether as a family or as a society. Many of the more recent laws have to do with safety; safety of the individual, and safety of the community.

In general, the rules and laws in most liberal democracies as easy to understand and abide by. In autocratic regimes, this tends not to be the case, hence the reason there are frequent protests, revolutions and civil wars in these countries.

During the convoy protest in Ottawa in 2022, I was hoping that those found guilty of fomenting the protest would be sentenced to spend a year in Venezuela, Saudi Arabia or even Russia.  Then they might understand the amount of freedom they have in this country.