Freedom Defined
April 1, 2013
CHARLES STEVENS writes:
Some thoughts on this Easter:
“He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” Matthew 28:6
The Resurrection leads us to an ever-present transcendence and perfect freedom. Earthly “freedom” is not what traditionalists and conservatives should be supporting. Freedom as the primary agenda inevitably morphs into license and narcissism.
What we must champion instead is ordered liberty, i.e., the pursuit of optimality. We live in the reality of an imperfect world, where there are always trade-offs, personal choices, responsibilities, and results. But just like Satan himself, leftists tempt the ignorant and naïve with delusions of pure autonomy. “Demand your rights” they insist, “and you shall be free.”
Radical autonomy promises personal freedom, but in the end it is simply the license to avoid choosing good from evil and any true value derived thereof.
Radical autonomy must inevitably chew up each next bit of traditional society in order to destroy it.
Radical autonomy casts the individual adrift on an endless sea of ultimately meaningless choices. He is left with no traditions that could anchor him to his family, his culture, his religion, or his society. His existence has no choice but to sink into narcissism.
Ordered liberty, NOT freedom, is the only way to achieve an optimal balance between individual choice and a meaningful society.
The sordid beauty of liberalism is that it allows us to deform ordinary language so as to avoid ever acknowledging the horrendous real-world ramifications of poisoned policies. “In the Beginning was the Word…” And who would be most likely to distort the word, if not Satan himself? In the final analysis, the left has surrendered to evil.
Come let us rejoice! Rejoice in the Lord, who is the Truth, the only Way to perfect freedom!
— Comments —
James N. writes:
Freedom describes a condition. “Freedom” is not a value, freedom is the state of being able to do what you desire, and whether it is good or bad depends on what it is that you desire. If you desire the good, freedom can be a good, and if you desire evil, your freedom to do it is bad. Anyone who agitates for “freedom” must answer, “freedom to do what?”
In most of the world, the removal of despotic government confers freedom to kill, freedom to rape, freedom to steal, and freedom to burn.
It’s no good to protest, “that’s not what I meant by freedom.” Freedom is a value-free proposition.
