A huge difference between champions of the fully free society (or
libertarianism) and others who are concerned with political economic
matters is that the former really do not approve of imposing any kind of
agenda on the lives of others no matter how desirable it would be. Not
even universal education, let alone universal health care, is deemed
important enough for libertarians to assume power over other people--e.g.,
the parents of children, those with ailing elderly in their homes, etc.
Unless there really is negligence involved, such that someone is failing
to fulfill a legal obligation to feed his or her children, the government
simply has no role. Furthermore, those who really accept the imperative to
respect the rights of everyone to live as they choose provided no one's
rights are being violated, may not force others to do the right thing in,
say, abstaining from racial or gender discrimination at the work place,
just as this is something one may not impose on others in their personal
lives.
This full commitment to human liberty is really quite an unusual and often
difficult stance. Yet it is at the heart of the difference between what a
free and what an authoritarian or totalitarian society is about. Just as
no one may force others to go to a certain church, regardless of how
sincerely and devoutly one holds to one's religions faith, neither may
these other practices that to many appear to be elementary decency be
imposed on other persons. Just as no one may impose on others what they
must read, so others must not be forced to do all kinds of things that are
deemed to be just and proper. Just as in one's personal life one must be
free to choose with whom one will or will not associate, the same holds
for one's professional associations. (There are some intricacies here that
can make it appear that one isn't free to avoid others with whom one
doesn't want to fraternize--as when one joins a club that has a
non-discriminatory policy--but those are complications that would need to
be discussed elsewhere.)
Many decent people recoil in disgust from these elements of a free society
while they accept others which are very similar. They do not mind that
freedom implies that people can read or write whatever they please,
however immoral it may be; yet they refuse to accept that one has a
basic--and should have a legal--right to adopt highly objectionable
policies at the factory or office that one owns. They see nothing odd
about people refusing to accept someone into their family who does not
share their religious or even political convictions while they consider it
impermissible that they may refuse to hire such people even if this is a
fully disclosed condition for employment.
The realm of the private is far broader in a free society than most people
realize, so private choices and preferences have a greater scope. Which
can be a very benign influence over the society as well as introduce some
not very admirable ones. This, however, is the implication of taking the
right to liberty really seriously instead of cherry picking liberties that
one likes and are uncontroversial.
A truly free country leaves it to its citizens to plan their lives, for
better or for worse, and refuses to permit the imposition of plans on them
even by the most wise and smart among us. If one has plans for others,
regardless how worthy they may be, these must be promoted without
coercion, by voluntary means. That is indeed the mark of
civilization--human relations must at all level adhere to the principle of
free association and avoid treating people as if they may be included in
the plans of others without their willing participation. However
cumbersome this may appear, it is still the basic imperative of a free
society.
Those who understand this and advocate it may themselves find some of the
implications very distasteful. That people may indulge their anti-Semitic,
racist, male chauvinist and similar objectionable attitudes is not
something that is easy to accept. But if one is going to be serious about
trying to build a just and free society, accepting it all is simply
unavoidable.
Classical Individualism: The Supreme Importance of Each Human Being
(Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought, 11) (Hardcover)
