What is Freedom?
There is a great need to understand what freedom actually means. A misconception will lead to many problems and one of them is to abuse ones idea of freedom to hurt and subjugate others. Although it is already a given that freedom just like the concept love is not easy to define and the quest to define it can be exhaustive but at the end of the day what one will get is approximation for there is really no human words that can describe what it means as well as the fact that freedom can be interpreted in different ways by different peoples and cultures.
The best way to narrow down the definition of freedom is to narrow it by defining it according to a particular context. With regards to this discussion freedom will be define in the context of European history as well as the emergence of the United States as bastion for democracy. Paradoxically freedom will be fully understood as the proponent of this study will try to link it to the institution of slavery in Europe and then in the United States of America.
According to Walton and Smith freedom even if one delimits the research to understanding freedom in the context of slavery there are still many different ways to define the term. But in their search for the correct definition of freedom in the Western context they were able to narrow it down to three typologies of freedom. The three typologies will be shown below together with their respective authors:
Table 1 Typologies of Freedom.
The best way to look at the table shown below is to understand first that there are at least three basic forms of freedom: Personal, Sovereignal, and Civic. After that the types of freedom that can be seen on the right side of the table are the rights that should be given to the individuals as well as the social conditions needed to be able to experience the basic freedoms that Patterson has pointed out earlier.
According to Patterson personal freedom is the sense that a person can do anything he or she wants at the same time it is the sense that he or she is not coerced to do something that is not desired (Walton & Smith, 2). Sovereignal freedom on the other hand is the power to do anything without regard for the rights of others (Walton & Smith, 2). Civic freedom is the capacity of adult members of a community or nation to participate in its life and governance (Walton & Smith, 2).
Foner and King’s ideas can be seen as supporting Patterson’s ideas by giving the reason why personal and civic freedom is possible in the first place. For instance Foner asserts that each human has natural rights that enable him to feel the need for freedom and at the same time these rights should compel others to respect his rights to be free. The same is echoed by King who in essence is saying that there should be no arbitrary legal or institutional restrictions that will limit the person’s capacity for freedom.
At the onset of the discussion one can easily see that there is no harmony among the typologies. There are some instances when they support each other but there are times when they contradict each other. For example while Patterson declared that there are personal and civic freedoms he also acknowledges that there are powerful entities who have the power to do as they pleases irregardless of what others may say or do.
For instance the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) can easily impose their will on another and order that person or organization to submit to their auditing procedures. The person being scrutinized under the investigative powers of the IRS can protest and say I need to go on vacation and that he had promised his sons and daughters that they would go to Disneyland this weekend. But the IRS could just as easily lay down the law and say hey you need to work with us this coming weekend and show us your financials.
What is Power?
Based on the preceding discussion one can easily see the link between freedom and power. First of all freedom is the main prerequisite before a person can achieve power. Secondly, power emanates from freedom. And finally, power can restrict the freedom that is enjoyed by others. There is that tension between freedom and power plus the interaction with other people who had the same capabilities. This means that the freedom exercised by others will be the chain that can bind other people groups.
This is demonstrated by the following. A man gets up from his bed, gets out from his own house, takes the car to the train station and from there get tickets to travel to the next city. The aforementioned scenario can be considered as mundane and many will say what does this got to do with the discussion regarding power and freedom? Well, one has to remember that 200 years or so ago there are some groups of people in the United States that could not perform the aforementioned activities. It is illegal for them to do so.
Two centuries before this date African-Americans could not own their own homes, they could not purchase luxury items such as an expensive means of transportation, they could not move freely and they could not travel to the next city. This is made impossible by United States laws. This is because during that time African-Americans are considered as less than humans, they are properties of their masters, they are slaves.
Conclusion
Freedom is a concept that is difficult to define. There are so many shades of meaning. But one way to limit the analysis of this term is to study it in the context of Western history. This can be done specifically in the United States of America a nation that had its shares of tyrants, uprisings, and slavery. Using the information that can be gleaned from studying its more than 200 year history one can declare with confidence like Patterson that freedom is indeed personal and civic. This is the type of freedom desired by the people of the United States. Moreover, one has to add another type of freedom which is called sovereignal because in a society where freedom is experienced there are those who rise to the top and they will begin to consolidate their power as rulers and protectors of the people.
Since there are those who rise to the top and become the elite of society personal and civic freedom is not without bounds. There are people in society who has the freedom to exert their power and they do this either to enslave or to enforce laws. This means that it is impossible to have unlimited freedom in this society because there are those who will impose laws that will limit the freedom enjoyed by other.
Power emanates from freedom and this is a good thing. This power can be used to help the person achieve his dreams and goals in life. This will also make the person feel fulfilled and satisfied. On the other hand this same power can be used to limit the freedom of others in a positive or negative way. This the tension between the two, freedom versus power. One cannot drop the one in favor of the other, these two forces must work hand in hand. If power is used to enforce laws that will benefit the general public then power is good. But when power is used to enslave others so that a minority can live a life of comfort and great wealth then freedom and power is misused.