Oliver Curry
Martin
ENG 3B
10 August 2018
Writing #1
The Concept of Freedom
Freedom, as described by the Oxford Dictionary, is “the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants.” Freedom is a total liberty from oppression and an entitlement to individuality and expression. It can have different meanings for different people, depending on how free they are in their own part of the world. Freedom is an interesting concept, but has it ever fully occurred? Society, no matter how free, has always been limited by environmental factors, societal factors, and many other restraints. Asides from uncontrollable variables, humanity in some ways restricts its own freedom. If we can restrict our own freedom with unfair systems and societal imbalance, shouldn’t we be able to change? In a perfect world, this ideal supported by the majority of our world should be possible.
The United States was fundamentally based on the idea that “that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” These rights are described as “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The American government system was designed to create a democracy of equality but has fallen short in execution. In this way, we have become predisposed to inequity and inequality. We perpetuate our imbalances with our class systems, our discriminatory employment and legal systems, and our government not sticking to its own rules. With the United States priding itself on being the “Land of the Free,” it is only ranked as the 18th most “free” country. Hong Kong, which is ranked as the first most “free” country, has a high level of transparency between the people and government, resulting in a higher level of trust which allows more freedom. This integrity between the government and the people is what, in our world with our governmental systems, ultimately creates the allowance for a high level of freedom.
In our world, humans have had a history of liberation. This struggle for liberty has always been one group of people against another. One of the first examples of a conceptualized idea of freedom is from the Greeks. They believed that anyone with autonomy from any sort of master was free. Although the Greeks went on to create a quite successful democracy, it was based on equality between all free men. There was no equality for women or enslaved people, which defeats the purpose of trying to have equality. Liberty is also associated with the idea of freedom from a colonizer or controlling force for a nation. There have been countless revolts, revolutions, and uprisings where the people rise up and take control of their nation’s political situation to make changes.
Total freedom may not be a good thing. People can find comfort in knowing that a government takes some of the burdens of supporting a nation. Total dependence on the people to support themselves would not be productive to the society. People take different jobs to support different aspects of their society, and among these are jobs that involve more governmental positions. A good government should unite the people in a way that allows for equality, equity, and control over their community. The people should choose to give up some freedom so they can depend on their society and feel safe in it. The people and government should have a relationship of mutualism and support. Societies should have governmental systems because they decide that is the right way to run their community and the governmental system should be run by the community.
In many ways, humanity restricts its own freedom. The ways some societies and governments are set up predisposes their communities to inequality, inequity, and a lack of the sense of freedom. A true democracy is as dependent on the people as they are on it. People may willingly give up some of their freedom so they can depend on and be supported by their community. Having a government Despite the aspiration for a high level of freedom, if a governmental and societal system operates in such a way that there is a relationship of mutualism, it should be seen as a better option to self-dependence.