re: #32 Lupin

I’ve been thinking about the nature of freedom recently and those thoughts caused your phrase, “more self-regulated society” jumped to my attention.

A lot of people think that freedom is the ability to do things, the removal of limits. I’ve come the conclusion that freedom is actually about limits.

A person can always say what they want, associate with who they want, travel where they wish. In a non-free society those with power can and will make a person suffer for doing so. In a free society those with power are severely limited in what they can do to people who exercise their abilities.

And these limits are why so many people with power detest freedom. They do not like their power limited.

This can be demonstrated by the various ‘religious freedom’ laws popping up all over. They remove the limits on the power of a particular religion. Voter suppression lessens the limits of power on a particular group of voters. Repeal of laws limiting what banks can do and how they do it removes limits on the power of the banking industry. The ammosexuals oppose gun control because such regulations reduce their power.

A free society is one in which power is sharply limited and widely spread. A non-free society is one where power is unlimited and belongs to only a few members.