tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084429012972393947.post5440392648000351476..comments2023-09-10T10:42:03.489-04:00Comments on Peanut Politics: Yes, We Do Live in a "Free Society"Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07899457461643850804noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084429012972393947.post-80106292787825867522010-05-14T09:49:22.837-04:002010-05-14T09:49:22.837-04:00Your definition of freedom as freedom from governm...Your definition of freedom as freedom from government restraint is too narrow. There are many kinds of oppression that require government action to eliminate. Slavery, and later racial segregation, was eliminated because of government action. While it is true that slavery and later segregation had laws supporting them, simply eliminating the laws and declaring that everyone is free without government enforcement would not have worked. While they are very rare, there are still cases of slavery that come up today that the government criminally prosecutes.<br /><br />Freedom is complicated. The freedom that some of our founding fathers were fighting for was the freedom to keep slaves. Much of the current "states rights" push have their roots in the civil rights era (and going further back to the civil war) when people were trying to maintain the state right to continue separate but equal laws.<br /><br />Your point that there is a broad consensus in this great country about the current structure of economic institutions is correct. There is now also broad consensus that people shouldn't be restricted from taking part in these economic institutions because of race, gender or ethnicity. But this state of freedom is not due to freedom from government, it is instead a result of laws and government regulation that it exists.Edwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00321250768973820801noreply@blogger.com