What is Liberty? Why We Should to Protect Her?

I have often wondered why the concept of liberty is associated with a feminine persona.  Being married for 18 years, I have a pretty good idea why this might be the case.  Just like my wife, Liberty is a complicated concept.  A concept that is not easily understood.  Just like women she comes in many forms and many temperaments.  She is tough and stands strong in her beliefs, never letting go when she know she is right.  She is special.  So special that millions have laid down their lives defending her, just as I would for my wife.

In his book, Two Concepts of Liberty, Isaiah Berlin introduced the idea that there were two distinct concepts that encompass the idea of liberty: positive liberty and negative liberty.  The latter concept denotes a negative condition in which an individual is protected from tyranny and the arbitrary exercise of authority, while the former refers to having the means or opportunity, rather than the lack of restraint, to do things.

Having the power and resources available fulfill one's potential is essential for a free society to thrive and grow.  Inherent to the concept of positive liberty is the idea that liberty is the ability of citizens to participate in their government.  Their participation is a pro-active control of their own destiny and thus ensuring they will have the opportunity to achieve what they desire for their lives.  When elected representatives hinder or take away individuals power to reach their potential, then liberty is diminished.  When those officials act against the will of the majority of people who elected them, there is tyranny.

Berlin believed that positive liberty alone nearly always gave rise to the abuse of power.  He proposed that the concept of positive liberty has often been used to cover up abuse, leading to the curtailment of people's negative liberties "for their own good".  For when a political leadership believes that they hold the philosophical key to a better future, this sublime end can easily be used to justify drastic means.

The positive notion of liberty is the central idea of social liberalism. Social liberalism holds that the function of the liberal state is to supply individuals with the opportunity to provide for themselves by useful work. The right to work and the right to a living wage are considered as real as the right to person and property, while unemployment and low wages are considered to be a reproach to the justice of society.  It conceives the rights of the individual as harmonious with those of the community, and defines the first in terms of a common good and the second in terms of the well-being of individuals.

The negative notion of liberty refers to freedom from interference by other people and by reference, the government.  In Berlin's words,

"Liberty in the negative sense involves an answer to the question 'What is the area within which the subject -- a person or group of persons -- is or should be left to do or be what he is able to do or be, without interference by other persons."

Many philosophers have disagreed as to the extent of this realm and at the same time accepting the main point that liberty defines that realm in which one may act unobstructed by others.  Restrictions placed on the freedom to act are implicit in negative liberty when imposed by a person or persons and not due to causes such as nature, lack, or incapacity.

In a civilized society, a line must be drawn and a space sharply delineated where each individual can act unhindered according to their tastes, desires, and inclinations. This area defines the sacred space of personal liberty.  No society is possible without some authority, where the intended purpose of authority is to prevent collisions among the different ends and, thereby, to demarcate the boundaries where each person's zone of liberty begins and ends.

The modern conceptions of democracy, whether representative democracies or other types of democracies, are all found on the idea of popular sovereignty.  Our Founding Fathers understood the concept of positive liberty’s risk of abuse of power.  To ensure we could be sovereign and not fall prey to the evils of tyranny, they designed our ruling structure such that there was a balance of power.  They also understood that some liberties must be relinquished in the name of sovereignty and as such they defined the space of personal liberty by defining the rights, privileges and immunities in the US Constitution and especially the Bill of Rights. 

Our government was formed by men precisely to secure and protect individual rights.  The conception of "human rights" as defined by our founders,  refers to the individual rights of distinct human beings.  Not the "collective" man as many of the enlighten today believe. There are only separate individuals who think, value, hope, dream ,and have goals and purposes that guide their lives.

I personally see liberty as a way of organizing every aspect of human life such that it recognizes the human potential and holds dear a respect for human dignity.  It is not, as the moral relativism crowd would have you believe, a license to do whatever one pleases.  It is a group of ideas regarding the rights of individuals (freedom to life, individual liberty, and property) as natural rights, granted by God, and the kind of government that is needed to protect those rights.  The liberties afforded us by our the Constitution and Bill of Rights are clearly defined.  Our government has repeatedly step outside the bounds of its authority stealing more and more of our liberties.

 

God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure. 

                                                                    -Thomas Jefferson

Now I don’t believe our country is to the point of another revolution with arms, but it is time for us warn our rulers that we preserve the spirit of resistance.  The tree of liberty must be refreshed.