Babby Boomers, Liberty and Freedom

I recently read a Kenyan blog (http://kenyaimagine.com/Politics-and-Governance/The-looming-class-war-in-Kenya.html) about the class differences that are growing in Kenya and how the writer expects the differences to lead to an explosion of class violence, as has happened recently in South Africa, Canada, and the US. (In the US we call such explosions a crime wave) I generally deplore violence. Unfortunately, however, the privileged few seem unable to comprehend the inhumanity that arises from their indifference to the struggle to survive of those born less fortunate than they. The practices of government and social institutions are designed and operated by the socially advantaged and those from lower social classes may not understand or be able to adjust to rules and regulations that often seem, and often are, meant to discourage those who are in the most need of assistance to survive.

At one time in the US, we managed to destabilize those violent, class based undercurrents through business practices and social legislation that recognized the responsibilities we all share in the well-being of our neighbors in a democratic society (unless they are of a different skin color, of course. The race issue in the US is closely tied to class issues but we refuse as society to acknowledge the relationship). The wonderful baby-boomer generation (of which I am a member) has managed to forget those responsibilities, choosing, instead to pursue freedom as an economic issue rather than a political one. The generation’s confusing of liberty and freedom has lead to our present circumstance where the havenots get less and less every year and the haves seem to do everything possible to make sure they can wash their hands of their political/ethical responsibility to their fellow citizens of lower social rank, lower education, and different life values.

The conceptual confusing of freedom and liberty and the perversion of a political/ethical issue into an economic one has led the Bush administration into their pursuit of a “free market” empire dedicated to “democracy.” The ill-conceived Iraqi/Afghani war that the 9/11 acts of terror brought about was stimulated by a love for liberty not freedom. Terrorists do not constrain freedom. They constrain liberty in the hope of gaining the political advantage necessary to constrain freedom. The present economic downturn caused by energy price inflation restricts liberty of movement rather than freedom of movement. As of yet, citizens of the US do not need national ID cards or papers of movement to travel or move about in their daily affairs. We are free to go where and when we please. However, economic concerns created by the increasing cost of energy hampers our ability to exercise that freedom. For all but the wealthy, our liberty to travel when and where we wish has been constrained by economic concerns.

To some extent this economic constraint on liberty has always been present in a socially stratified society. In the past, free men without the financial means to own a horse or boat were economically restricted in their movement to where their legs could carry them and their ability to feed themselves as they traveled. The latter restraint was and in some areas of the world remains the greatest restraint against liberty. Deny or restrict a regular supply of food and drink and the liberty of movement is denied or restricted through a physical inability to move or through the knowledge that movement will deny access to a meager but sure supply of biological fuel. In the most basic sense we can see that social stratification begins with an economic restriction of the liberty of movement.

Until recently, all these constraints against liberty were sites of class conflict within the US that were resolved politically through a rule of law dedicated to the democratization of freedom and liberty. In the last forty years the forces that have always struggled to restrict both liberty and freedom for their own gain have shifted the battleground between classes from the political arena to the economic. Their tactic was simple and brilliant. They declared the political battle for democratic equality won in the US and shifted the battle to controlling the means of production. Baby boomers were so busy pursuing the false promise of eternal sexiness they failed to recognize or oppose the economic erosion of the hard won civil rights of the class wars fought in this country in the 19th and 20th centuries.

In fact, the accumulation of wealth is a disease that enables personal liberty at the expense of political freedom. The stoics of both the oriental and occidental ancient worlds recognized moderation as the way to true freedom and liberty. When the spirit is free and unfettered by the concerns of wealth the body will benefit. When we citizens of the US finally realize that true liberty and freedom exist independently of the accumulation of wealth we may make strides to ensure that a true democratic freedom will exist for as long as humanity survives.