What is freedom?
"I can be free to do whatever I want at any time" may be a valid answer if it were not for the fact that other people exist.
As our actions impact on other people, a way of managing that impact may give us more freedom than an unstructured society would allow.
Rules (laws) can be part of the structure.
There are many people in this world and there is a large probability that at least some people may conflict with any rule that is created.
Looking at history, societies have failed when they have attempted to live without rules. Some societies have many unjust and repressive laws.
I am learning a lot about the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence. Both of these documents were originally designed to limit government so as to ensure that the people are free from repressive and unjust laws.
I am currently enjoying my experience of living on a farm in Lindsay, California USA until August 20, 2007.
I do feel shocked to discover that the state of California has so many laws and restrictions on what we can do on the farm. It is not at all surprising to me that so many people will simply disobey most environmental laws.
Many of these laws are designed by people who live in the cities. They have possibly been made without considering the needs of the people who live in the country.
It seems to me that we value controlling others more than we value our freedom. We are allowing ourselves to be more and more controlled. We are even signing away our sovereignty, binding ourselves to foreign law-making bodies without any firm guarantee that we can retain our freedom.
I care about people and I also care about our environment. I do not want to be unnecessarily suppressed, controlled and restricted. I prefer to be free.
There may be some very good reasons for refusing to sign international treaties such as the Kyoto protocol agreement.
I believe that we need to be educating the people in this world rather than making laws to control them.
As our actions impact on other people, a way of managing that impact may give us more freedom than an unstructured society would allow.
Rules (laws) can be part of the structure.
There are many people in this world and there is a large probability that at least some people may conflict with any rule that is created.
Looking at history, societies have failed when they have attempted to live without rules. Some societies have many unjust and repressive laws.
I am learning a lot about the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence. Both of these documents were originally designed to limit government so as to ensure that the people are free from repressive and unjust laws.
I am currently enjoying my experience of living on a farm in Lindsay, California USA until August 20, 2007.
I do feel shocked to discover that the state of California has so many laws and restrictions on what we can do on the farm. It is not at all surprising to me that so many people will simply disobey most environmental laws.
Many of these laws are designed by people who live in the cities. They have possibly been made without considering the needs of the people who live in the country.
It seems to me that we value controlling others more than we value our freedom. We are allowing ourselves to be more and more controlled. We are even signing away our sovereignty, binding ourselves to foreign law-making bodies without any firm guarantee that we can retain our freedom.
I care about people and I also care about our environment. I do not want to be unnecessarily suppressed, controlled and restricted. I prefer to be free.
There may be some very good reasons for refusing to sign international treaties such as the Kyoto protocol agreement.
I believe that we need to be educating the people in this world rather than making laws to control them.
posted by Peter at 2:55 AM
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