8 | SAM MAGAZINE 4/25 KOLUMNI In American political thought, the concept of “freedom” is rooted in 17th- and 18th- century political discourse about “natural law” – that is, in the 17th and 18th century secular challenges to conservative political thought grounded in tradition or religious texts. In liberal thinking, natural law’s essential claim is that individuals are born with self-ownership. No one else owns them – not their parents (though because self-ownership cannot be safely or reasonably exercised until adulthood, there is a period of parental protective custody), not the community, not any religious authority, and not the state or any other hierarchic secular authority. This initial claim that each individual is his or her own property may seem innocuous, but it is not. From it all else follows logically. If individuals “own” themselves, they possess the right to do with themselves as they like, so long as they do not interfere with similar rights of others. That is, because they are endowed with self-ownership, it follows that individuals are endowed with complete and absolute “liberty,” at least up to the point at which their “liberty” to do as they like infringes on the self-ownership, liberty, or (as we will see in a moment) the fruits of the labor of others. Yes, society may seek to teach individuals what choices, behaviors, and actions are wise and likely to lead to happiness, in this world or the next, and which are not. But unless an individual willingly gives up particular liberties, no person or institution has a right to force him to act in a way against his wishes. Self-ownership, responsibility, and the social contract Given that the individual possesses the liberty to act wisely and productively -- or conversely to act unwisely and unproductively -- the outcomes that flow from these choices also belong to the individual. If I choose to live idly, my poverty belongs entirely to me: if because of my choices I lack shelter or food, no one else is under any obligation to provide these to me (though out of charity, as an act of their own free-will and liberty, they might choose to). Freedom and Reaction in American Politics Edward Rhodes is a professor of Government and International Affairs at George Mason University. Rhodes is best known for his research into the philosophical and cultural roots of American foreign and national security policy. Rhodes served for six years on the U.S. State Department's Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation, the Congressionally mandated, nonpartisan body that reviews and certifies the official, published account of American foreign policy for completeness and accuracy.
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