What Does It FEEL Like to Be Free?

Do we even know anymore?

When I woke up this morning and asked myself what we should do for #FreedomMusicFriday, the first song that popped into my head was “Freedom” by Dorothy. Not so much for the title, but for the anthemic refrain:

Freedom! I got freedom on my mind…

The song isn’t exactly about the sorts of things we talk about here at the Freedom Scale, and in the broader freedom movement in general. But when I think of the feeling of freedom, I tend to hear that refrain…which Dorothy belts out with the same passion I feel. (Listen and you’ll see what I mean.)

We’ve been been having a logical discussion of definitions all week. Monday: a counter to Hanlon’s razor; Tuesday: a discussion of evil; and yesterday: the problems with circle spectrums, in an excerpt from a book that is itself chock full of definitions.

And goodness knows I have spent a lot of time trying to define freedom with some logical rigor: The different kinds of freedom. What a free world might look like. The precise reasons why we must be free. And, of course, a ton of ink on why—in terms of the primary definition of freedom as the absence of external coercion—we are definitely not free now.

All of that is important. We have to get it correct, and we will, of course, return to the subject. But what about what freedom feels like?

I know quite a few people who have focused inward: on making themselves free in their hearts, souls, and minds. This is an excellent approach, perhaps made most famous by Viktor Frankl, who focused on setting oneself free internally, no matter how terrible the external circumstances. I have been increasingly working on this myself and have recommended it for others, as we have discussed many times.

But let’s face it…

We would not have to talk in such terms if unfree circumstances were not being forcibly imposed upon us, every minute of every day.

The freedom of the individual human person moves in inverse proportion to external coercion. The more coercion, the less freedom.

And unless you live in gangland, the greatest source of external coercion in your life tends to be government. Thus, when we talk about making ourselves internally free, there is an “in spite of the circumstances being imposed upon us” subtext.

Frankly, I would like to know what it FEELS like not to have those circumstances.

I have a pretty good idea what it would look like. In the absence of nonconsensual governance being imposed upon a whole group of people over a large area, we would be able to choose…

• Some would choose to be customers of market agencies providing security, justice, and infrastructure services (market anarchism/anarchocapitalism).

• Some would choose to be a part of a territorial polity of some sort or another (inarchy).

• Some would choose to be a part of a distributed or non-territorial governance provider, jurisdictionally coterminous with others (panarchy).

• Some would make the rather unwise choose not to be affiliated with any, and just take the risk of not even having the support of a protection/aggression-insurance agency.

None of us knows what this would feel like…because we were all born into circumstances to which we did not consent.

Yet we are told that—somehow—we did consent. Some magic wand was waved. Some philosophical cheat code was employed. Abracadabra—your consent to the ‘social contract’ is ‘tacit’ and ‘implied.’

And, of course, you get to vote, don’cha know. As if that makes it okay. Suddenly, things that are totally morally unacceptable for each of us are just peachy when done by a group calling themselves the “government.” Like magic!

I cannot un-know what I know. I cannot manifest external coercion out of existence. It is what is. The choice is either to accept it, ignore it, defeat it, or escape it. More and more of us are beginning to focus on the latter of these. On exit and build.

But what would it feel like to be in such a world?

Wide-open horizons. Possibilities. No constraints but your own efforts, abilities, and the laws of nature.

When I was a young man, I set out on the open road. I left the East and headed West. I spent the summers of ‘93 and ‘94 driving on (what seemed like) every mile of road in every corner of Montana. I never felt so free before, or since.

I did not think too much about external coercion of government in those days. I did a little bit—after all, my buddy and I were listening to William Cooper on shortwave radio around the campfire!—but not as much as I do now. All I knew at the time is that my road seemed open all the way to the horizon.

Dorothy’s song has that feeling. Yes, there is a libertine aspect to what she is doing with her freedom, but so what? It’s her freedom. She can do with it what she likes. Her road is open. And the way she sings the song, you can FEEL it.

I want to feel that way again.

Maybe I will feel a touch of it if I get my own big piece of land and make it my own little kingdom. The external coercion will still be out there, but the physical boundary between me and it will be a little larger. Yes, that’s not the same as making oneself internally free. But, frankly, I would like to do both.

I know many of you feel the weight of the external coercion we face. I know that on some level, you feel like freedom has flown, never to return.

I do not believe that. I believe that REvolution is coming. With hard work and dedication, we can build the next world. But there is a long road ahead, and many obstacles along the way.

Do, in the meantime, how do you feel?

Do you feel generally free? Or does external coercion weigh on you like a sopping-wet blanket?

Do you see a road of possibilities ahead? Or do you only see the obstacles?

I got freedom on my mind.

How about you?

---

Update: #FreedomMusicFriday from around Substack:

Libertarian Prepper

:

What About Us?