The following section from Jonah Goldberg's latest
column seemed particularly relevant to recent
discussions of democracy and the electoral college.
I know that I found it extremely thought-provoking.
Enjoy:
Full column at:
http://www.nationalreview.com/goldberg/goldberg122000.shtml
Relevant section:
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"The world has never had a good definition of the word
liberty�" observed Friedrich Hayek. "We all declare
for liberty: but in using the same word, we do not
mean the same thing." This is of course true about
most words, including spicy, sexy, and expensive, but
not, say, oblong, fire, or frozen. But never mind
about all that. Hayek was of course correct. Liberty
is way, way, way too often confused with freedom.
We are all free to do whatever we are capable of
doing. We are free to kill, rape, steal, tear mattress
tags, and run with scissors. We are free to say what
we want, when we want, where we want � if we can get
away with it. My dad has spent his working life
dealing with copyrighted material and one of his
biggest peeves is when people ask him: "What's to keep
someone from just taking X or Y without paying for
it?" Exasperated, my dad will say, "the law," or
"morality," or "Western Civilization," or "a simple
appreciation of right and wrong." This was a point he
used to hammer home with me when I was a kid. Just
because you are free to do all sorts of things, that
doesn't mean you should. Freedom is what we have in a
state of nature.
Liberty, on the other hand, is not something we're
born with, nor is it a natural state. It is a
political condition. All of that stuff in the
Constitution ensures liberty, not freedom. A liberal
society is one where the power of government or other
institutions to coerce or bully is constrained. We are
at all times "free" to yell fire in a crowded theater.
We are not always at "liberty" to, indeed we are only
at liberty to yell fire when there is a fire. Lord
Acton put his finger on it when he said liberty is the
guarantee that the citizen will be "protected in doing
what he believes his duty against the influence of
authority and majorities, custom and opinion."
Note the use of the word "duty." As I am so found of
pointing out to college audiences, there is a reason
we call them the "Liberal" Arts and not the "Free"
Arts. The Liberal Arts as defined by Locke and
Jefferson are those skills � historical knowledge,
intellectual skepticism, etc. � a person needs to be a
responsible citizen. The free arts are what they teach
you in prison.
Peregrine Worsthorne, the brilliant British archbishop
of conservative crankiness saw this distinction very
early in life. In an essay ("How Freedom Enslaves Us
All," written in 1992), he remembered how he dreaded
"free time" in school. During recess, the "free time"
bullies would treat him terribly. "In class the
bullies were kept in order by a master who was free to
coerce them. Out of class they were free to coerce me.
As far as I was concerned 'free time' meant only a
different kind of coercion � by several bullies rather
than one master�" Later, he read Hobbes, who made the
case more clearly. "Subjects have no greater liberty
in a popular than in a monarchical state. That which
deceives them is the equal participation of command."
Which gets us to democracy. Democracy is not sacred,
holy, or divine. The fettishizing of democracy may be
necessary in a country like ours to preserve our
liberties, but that doesn't mean democracy is
synonymous with liberty or freedom in the positive
sense. Democracy, as Churchill observed, is simply the
best and most reliable system yet devised for
preserving liberty. But no magic is conferred on
someone because they get one more vote than another
person. An extra ballot is no wand, transforming a
hack into a statesman. The idea that the "the will of
the people" is always the wisest, noblest, or best
option is ludicrous. It's like confusing the shovel
you used to dig out of prison with the freedom it
helped you achieve. The shovel is indispensable, but
if it takes you to the wrong place, it's useless. The
founders understood this explicitly, explaining that
the Parliament of Venice � or maybe it was Vienna, I
can't remember � was just as tyrannical as any
despotism.
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John D. Giorgis
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Takoma Park, MD
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