The freer the world becomes, the more anxious it becomes.
We hate it.
We are terrified of it.
Oh sure, we say we love it. As Americans it is our thing. The land of the free, the home of the brave.
But we AREN’T brave in the face of freedom.
What we love is rules.
Rules keep us safe.
Rules keep the other guy from running the red light and killing us.
Rules keep charlatans from selling us poison marketed as a cure.
Rules keep strangers from entering our homes and taking our possessions.
Or at least in theory.
We don’t want complete freedom.
Freedom is anarchy and we don’t want that.
We only want freedom to the extent that it means that we are free to create a set of rules to live by. We don’t want OTHER people to make the rules. That’s a dictatorship.
Like a teenager that can’t wait to get out from under his parent’s rules. WE want to make the rules. WE want the control. That feels like freedom.
But of course, that’s not really freedom for anyone else.
The trouble lies in creating a world that is equally free for everyone.
The trouble comes when we can’t agree on the rules.
If the rule we like is a rule that says no one can kill another person, we want the freedom to live by that rule and to enforce that rule upon others. This helps us feel our world is a safe place.
If the rule we like is a rule that says that no one can kill an unborn child, we want the freedom to live by that rule and to enforce that rule upon others. This helps us feel our world is a safe place.
If the rule is that this war is a just war, we want the freedom to fight it so that our enemy does not overtake us. It helps us feel that our world is a safe place.
If the rule we like is a rule that says that everyone should be vaccinated, we want the freedom to live by that rule and to enforce that rule upon others. This helps us feel out world is a safe place.
Rules will keep us from being killed. Rules will define what exactly killing IS, when it’s murder and when it’s not. Rules will help us feel that the other guy has to take me and my loved ones into consideration when making his choices. His freedom is not absolute.
But what if we feel UNSAFE because of a rule that makes someone else feel safe?
What if I feel unsafe in a world where abortion is illegal? What if I feel unsafe taking a vaccine? What if I feel unsafe in a world where my child could encounter unvaccinated children? What if I feel unsafe in a world where my child might go to war?
In situation after situation, freedoms that make you feel safe, will make me feel unsafe.
So…. we don’t really love freedom.
We love rules.
Freedom creates chaos and chaos creates anxiety.
The freer the world becomes, the more anxious it becomes.
Anxiety is the evidence that I am free and don’t know how to be free or how to let others be free.
What should I do with my life? The choices are endless because I am free.
Who should I marry? The choices are endless because I am free.
What is my purpose? The choices are endless because I am free.
What if screw it up?
What if, my loved one, because she is free, leaves me?
What if my neighbor, because he is free, kills me?
What if, because I live in a democracy, my government enforces taxes upon me?
What if those taxes fund wars? Abortions? Big pharma? Big oil?
What if our freedom leads to the destruction of the planet?
What if……
Freedom is nothing more than an infinite set of what ifs.
We like rules.