There are three essential and linearly dependent freedoms. Linearly dependent means that as human beings, we can achieve (or fail to achieve) one freedom because we possess (or fail to possess) another freedom.
In other words, the higher freedoms cannot exist without the presence of the lower ones. A closer examination of the three freedoms shows that this relationship is also cyclical. For now, look at them this way:
Civic Freedom
Mental Freedom
Economic Freedom
In order of dependence, mental freedom depends on economic freedom, and civic freedom depends on mental freedom.
How does this work?
The primary benefit of economic freedom is time.
Economic freedom means a person possesses enough resources to stop working long enough to plan, to study (become educated), and to dream.
Economic freedom means you have control of some or all of your own time. This is the first freedom.
If you are struggling with basic survival, there is little room for education and higher thought.
The benefit of mental freedom is that you can perceive the civic constraints by which you are bound. Once you recognize the constraints, you can work loosen and ultimately remove them.
It was mental freedom that permitted leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. to create lasting civic change that increased freedom for not only themselves but also for the large groups of people for whom they spoke.
Civic freedom comes from mental freedom. Mental freedom is the result of economic freedom.
Without the economic opportunity to receive an education and the time necessary to pursue it, Ghandi and King might never have dreamed of civic freedom on such a scale and with such clarity, and the entire world would be poorer for that loss.
We live in a time of amazing economic growth and opportunity. It is no exaggeration to state that there are enough resources globally and that the technology exists such that:
Every person on the planet can possess the same basic opportunities of clean water, sufficient energy for comfort, a baccalaureate education, basic medical care, sufficient healthy food to eat, and enough free time to raise and enjoy their family.
Yet we find that although wealth and technology are present globally, scarcity persists.
One billion people do not have clean water to drink. Two billion do not have access to electricity. Six and a half billion do not have a college degree. Over one billion people are not literate in any language.
When scarcity persists in the face of plenty, we call it artificial scarcity.
Why do we have such profound and essentially degrading artificial scarcity?
We live in a world of wealth, with the internet and cell phones providing instant communications, worldwide news, and online education. We have international space programs, global supply chains and financial markets, quick and safe travel to almost anywhere on earth, nuclear power, increasing longevity, and astonishing medical advances everywhere.
Yet every year roughly 1.3 billion tons of food and 10.5 trillion gallons of water are wasted globally while people perish and starve. As a species, we continue to pollute our precious planet.
Why?
Experts cite significant educational, political, and social barriers to solving these essential human problems.
In looking at human history, it seems the main barriers are and always have been political and ideological.
There have always been, and are still, regimes that persistently abuse people and deliberately disenfranchise them so the regime can stay in power.
These regimes may try to use a political philosophy or a religion or other ideology to accomplish this, but the pattern of autocrats is the functionally the same.
Autocrats are a persistent human problem.
How do we fix it?
And why should we? Many who are reading this already have considerable personal freedom.
Charity aside, is there a compelling reason to concern ourselves with the freedom of people we will probably never meet?
Yes. There are compelling reasons we should act.
Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.
To be true to one’s own freedom is, in essence, to honor and respect the freedom of all others.
He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself.
If we don’t protect the freedoms of others, our own freedom is ultimately at risk.
How can we do this?
At Free Country we have started with food, water, and energy initiatives. Using open source technologies and education, we are addressing the systemic issues of economic freedom in clean water, food, and energy production, as well as energy and water conservation.
Food and water security and free energy are within our reach as a species. Success in these areas will provide the basis of economic freedom for humanity.
Our open source data initiative encourages mental freedom with freely available and searchable Big Data datasets, honest and reliable journalism, and free education programs. Additionally, we partner with other non-profits to advance the cause of global freedom through alliance with others whose missions complement ours.
What about civic freedom?
We do not promote a specific political or social platform, but look to history instead to see what ideas have stood the test of time and been most effective in bringing real freedom to human populations.
True freedom is an iterative process. There will be trial and error, and we as a species will go over the same ground more than once in our effort to better our condition.
This is as it should be. The key is to learn to do this work together, in a spirit of good will and helpful intent.
As more people on the planet become economically and mentally free, social, political, and ideological constraints will begin to be carefully examined in light of what ideas best serve freedom, health, and peace for all.
We at Free Country are not naive. We know despots and dictators and autocrats and megalomaniacs exist and will continue to arise.
The answer to this is economic and mental freedom for as many humans as possible, as soon as possible.
Economically strong and well educated populations will eventually organize their states to give civic liberties to, and protect the human rights of, all citizens worldwide.
Achieving this state requires not only economic freedom and mental freedom, but a growing understanding of what paths successfully established free societies throughout our history have followed, and the wisdom of different peoples to choose paths that will lead to such free societies worldwide.
We are widely diverse within our humanity, but in foundational and fundamental ways, we humans have the same basic needs that must be met for optimal life.
One final quote: “Let it never be said that the dedication of those who love freedom is less than the determination of those who would destroy it.” ~ Margaret Thatcher
True civic freedom with universal human rights and civil liberties for all people is the final freedom frontier.
This is a primary goal of our work.
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