The Responsibility of Freedom

            You don’t just have a right to freedom, but you have a responsibility to freedom. It is a heavy responsibility to carry but one that is well worth the weight. George Bernard Shaw wrote in Man and Superman “Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.” It is this dread of responsibility that has led a lot of people to turn toward the government for ‘rights’. Right to healthcare, Women’s rights, Trans rights the list goes on. But the more ‘rights’ you demand from the government the more power you are giving them. That is because Rights do not come from the government, they are something you are born with and as such government can only take them away.

            The debate over free speech is a clear example of a demand for ‘rights’ from the government, protection from hate speech, over natural rights, freedom of speech. When you demand rights from the government you are giving the government the ability to grant and takeaway your rights. Asking the government to protect you from hate speech is in reality asking the government to take away someone else’s rights. So when someone is demanding a ‘right’ to be protected from hate speech, that means they want to censor the free speech of others and use the government to do it. Of course politicians will go along with this because they need votes and will cast this censorship in the light of defending or protecting minorities, the disenfranchised, and vulnerable communities. H.L. Mencken reminds us that “The urge to save humanity is almost always a false face for the urge to rule it.” They can make themselves out to be a hero of the people as opposed to an authoritarian. When it comes to free speech we must remember the words of Benjamin Franklin “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.”

            One of the biggest responsibilities of freedom is putting the individual over the community. This freedom comes with a larger responsibility, personal responsibility. This means that you personally are responsible for your actions as well as your wellbeing. This is why identity politics is the antithesis to freedom. It removers personal responsibility and replaces it with community or group responsibility. That is to say if you are white, you are guilty of anything white people have done in the past. Personal responsibility also means relying on yourself to make sure you have what you need to survive. That means getting a job or a way to earn money so that you can buy food, pay medical expenses, and take care of yourself. This also means saving some of what you earn for the future. Once you have yourself taken care of you can then take care of those around you. Margaret Thatcher put it perfectly when she said,

 

“I think we’ve been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it’s the government’s job to cope with it. ‘I have a problem, I’ll get a grant.’ ‘I’m homeless, the government must house me.’ They’re casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It’s our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbor. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations. There’s no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation.”

           

            Freedom is a beautiful and frightening thing. It allows each individual to decide for themselves how to live their life and to do what they want to do. It is also a deep responsibility that we need to live up to. Freedom does not always mean things go your way or that you get what you want, instead it means you have the unlimited potential to get what you want. I would urge everyone to keep in mind, freedom takes responsibility, so take responsibility for your freedom.