The Moral Basis of a Free Society

Hoover Institution ^ | Nov 1, 1997 | Stub

[Ray76]

When the government of China tells people they can read state-run newspapers but not print and distribute Bibles, imprisoning and torturing dissenters; or have one child but not two, forcing women to have abortions; or watch state-run television but not listen to Radio Free Asia, jamming broadcast signals and threatening students--that is not freedom.

But the absence of centralized state control is not necessarily freedom, either. The people of Beirut are not free. Neither are the people of Medellin and Cartagena, the drug capitals of Colombia. Freedom is not anarchy, chaos, and mayhem. The freedom to "let soulless forces operate," as the great classical liberal economist Ludwig von Mises termed it, is actually tyranny in another guise.

So what is freedom? How can a widely pluralistic society sustain freedom without degenerating into chaos? What is the moral basis of a free society? Today the citizens and leaders of every nation are looking to America for answers to these questions. From Mexico City to Moscow, from Johannesburg to Jerusalem, from Bombay to Beijing, people have an eye on America as they struggle to make the exciting but difficult transition to free markets, free elections, free speech, and free worship.

...Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

The people of the former Soviet Union are discovering this the hard way.... Communism destroyed not only material progress there, but also the moral and spiritual foundations of the country. Trust between strangers, the fundamental moral component of a free-market economy, barely exists. Without trust, how do you sign or enforce business contracts? How do you operate a system of credit? How do you maintain a basic sense of order?

[dragnet2]

Trust between strangers, the fundamental moral component of a free-market economy, barely exists. Without trust, how do you sign or enforce business contracts? How do you operate a system of credit? How do you maintain a basic sense of order?

A good description of current day America.

[Slyfox]

Good catch, Ray.

I have spent some time trying to define the word liberty. There are two types of definitions. One is objective and the other is subjective.

Our Founders understood the objective definition. Liberty is that which is freely given by God. And freedom is what we do with that liberty.

Liberty and freedom are often confused with each other.

The subjective version of liberty is when people make up their own definition of what they think liberty is.

The Declaration of Independence points to the correct definition of liberty. The Bill of Rights points to the correct definition of freedom.

[noinfringers2]

I like very much your discourse on liberty and freedom. However, since such are so closely tied to the founding of this Nation , I seriously and woefully doubt that such understanding can/will ever be brought out to future generations.

[kvanbrunt2]

wow i’ll have to read those that way. got my cato version in my hands right now

[jazzlite]

This is the most inspirational piece I have read in recent times. It has reinvigorated my own resolve not to give up or give in to the disintegration going on all around us every day. This piece was written 8 years ago..Have we sunk so far since then that we cannot stand up and save ourselves and our nation under the current circumstances of the family, killing the unborn and the corruption of our institutions? There is one thing we know for certain. Towers of Babel do not endure. When people desire to become Americans, they must assimilate and we all need to reach out to cause,that to happen. Those who come here to steal and destroy our freedom need to be sent back to the conditions they came from. This is not the country for them. Please pass this piece to your social media..It holds the kind of insight and analysis which can inspire, lift depression and change hearts. Thanks so much to the posters of this great piece.

[Eagles6]

Save

[fwdude]

Bump for later.

[fwdude]

Not one mention of the marriage redefinition juggernaut. Pretty poor writing, and I think I can detect where the author falls on this issue.

[gattaca]

bmp

[1010RD]

This problem is solved elsewhere by tribal retribution. In China it’s called guanxi. In America, Christian ideals solved the problem and honesty became the fiat of commerce.

[ConservingFreedom]

The first public-health movement in America was launched not by the government but by citizen-activists such as Lyman Beecher, the founder of the American Bible Society and a pastor who went on to form the American Society for the Promotion of Temperance in 1826. This enterprise became known as the Temperance Movement--and it worked. Within one generation, alcoholic consumption in America fell by two-thirds.

That's the only liberty-respecting model for fighting consensual vices.

[AustinBill]

It's both inspirational and sobering. In the 18 years since this was penned, far from experiencing a moral renewal as the author hoped, we've continued to slide much further down the slippery slope of moral decay.

The money quote from the article is: We are learning the hard way that a self-governing nation must consist of self-governing individuals.

Unfortunately we're still "learning" that lesson and it looks like we're still a long way from "graduation".

The key issue for any society is "How does one foster the development of self-governing individuals?" That is the role and purpose of the nuclear family, and is the reason why the State has historically recognized and protected traditional marriage consisting of a man and a woman. The State's interest is not in the adults but in the children that may issue from that union. For they are the future of the culture and society into which they are born. And it is in the development of their internal moral compass that the next generation of self-governing individuals depends.