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What is ‘the banner of freedom’?
The banner of freedom is exactly what it says it is: the political demand of freedom. Not just independence from other nations, but independence as sovereign individuals. Freedom is a basic demand of humanity. Freedom to act (without coercion) is what we want.
A bird is free if it can fly. Even a child readily understands that. Freedom is being able to flap one’s ‘wings’ without colliding with other people’s ‘wings’ and things around us. To be free to act is to be free to choose and bear the consequences of one’s choice. To be free to choose includes discovering and creating new choices, new things and new ideas. It includes the freedom to convert our ideas into products, both tangible and intangible. Freedom to act, in its fullest range, is our minimum negotiating political position.
However, freedom means different things to different people. Broadly speaking, there are two common meaning of freedom:
a) one, that gives each independent, self-respecting adult, equal freedom of choice and action; and
b) the other, which makes us ‘free’ to steal or to become parasites. Even socialism – which advocates state theft and coercive equality – claims to advance our freedom!
With the first of these two meanings, freedom stands with pride in itself, its head erect. This meaning demolished the false justifications of slavery and racism. In Gandhi’s hand, freedom became the sudarshan chakra for the dignity of all oppressed peoples. But with the second meaning, freedom grovels squalidly and begs to be spoon-fed. The second of these meanings makes beggars and robbers of us, people who want the ‘right’ to a job, the ‘right’ to food, and so on without ever having to work for these alleged ‘entitlements’. In this second meaning, freedom becomes an imposter, best banished from our land.
Similarly, one of the greatest enemies of freedom (apart from socialism) is the paternalism of the elites. While elites are better informed than us, that does not give them political superiority or the power to constrain our choices, purportedly for our own good. We ask to be allowed to make our own mistakes and learn from them. We ask not to be given charity but to be treated as equals.
A definition of freedom So what, then, is freedom? Here is a long but working definition that covers the issues involved:
In brief, letting people do whatever they want to do, so long as they are held to account (or duly rewarded) is the sum and essence of freedom. The theory of freedom is a theory of enlightened self-interest and individual accountability.
a) Responsibility for self, and family: The banner of freedom asks us to take full responsibility for our own actions. That means we must defend and advance our personal and family interests as the highest priority. Indeed, if everyone helped himself or herself, there would be no need for charity, and possibly no one would need to be poor.
b) Responsibility for our society: But freedom is also about using our choices to impact the world in a positive manner. While we are not responsible for others’ actions, we are responsible, jointly with others, for maintaining the integrity of our social contract or governance system, and thus for ensuring the quality of our society’s governance. We are therefore responsible for engaging with our society. Demanding freedom forces us out of our comfort zone as spectators and challenges us to take the responsibility of citizenship. It obliges us to work jointly with others to reform our society and make it the best place it can be.
Ethical outcomes In the end, the arrow of freedom must point unambiguously in the direction of moral action, else it is not freedom we are talking about but of an imposter. The good thing is that advancing freedom does lead to ethical and economically sound outcomes. Indeed, we know that prosperity without democracy or honesty in the society is not really worthwhile.
The good thing is that freedom gives us all three: prosperity, democracy, and honesty in society. With no moral impositions or demands on anyone, with a focus purely on the enforcement of justice and accountability, the banner of freedom generates, and will continue to generate, the ethical, healthy, and prosperous society we want.
The commitment of the Freedom Team to freedom The Freedom Team is committed to this banner of freedom: one that will maximise everyone’s equal freedom subject to accountability; for only that will give each of us the opportunity to become whatever we have the potential to become with our best efforts.
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[1] Are our actions determined by forces outside our control or do we ‘really’ choose them? I would agree with S. Radhakrishnan (in his An Idealistic View of Life) that ‘It makes little difference whether the self is moved from without or from within.’ There is a bustling literature on metaphysical issues surrounding the self, freedom, cause and consequence.
[3] Sanjeev Sabhlok, The Discovery of Freedom, manuscript – available on the ineternet at: http:/sanjeev.sabhlokcity.com/discovery.html. See detailed explanations in the manuscript.