What is Freedom?
posted on
July 4, 2025
Today is Independence Day—the day Americans celebrate the birth of the United States of America. It’s the day we revel in the fact that we’re a free nation—a free society. Yes, it’s debatable just how free we are (in many different ways), but I would suggest we’re about as free as allow ourselves to be. Or maybe as we behave ourselves to be.
I say “behave” because recently I’ve been thinking about an old quote. Supposedly an old Amish proverb, the quote reads; “Freedom is not the right to do as you please but the liberty to do as you ought.”
The reason I’m intrigued by this quote stems from what we’ve seen in American society in recent years, which is a push/pull—even a legal debacle—over issues such as abortion, gay marriage, porn restriction, jobless able-bodied men living on the public dole, and many more controversial issues of our day.
Regardless of where you are on these issues, I think we need to recognize that some things—whether or not they pose as liberating the individual or society—do not contribute to real freedom. Freedom, in modern times, is often conflated with the idea of simply doing as we please. But in reality, real freedom comes from living responsibly and morally (as we ought). The quote, I think, hits the proverbial nail squarely on the head in this light.
Now, I mentioned some of the heaviest hot-button societal issues of our day, which was deliberate in order to make the point. However, there are many other decisions affecting society that the quote applies to as well. Issues as marginal as farming practices, ultra-processing of food, even poor dietary decisions, that do not liberate us as promised.
Many of these practices and products were initially marketed under the guise of liberation but have proven otherwise. Such as the promise that herbicides and pesticides will liberate farmers from the arduous task of weeding, pest management, and proper crop diversity—only to bind them to the ag-industrial complex in ways they were unable to foresee. Or the promise of liberating women from the kitchen via cheap ultra-processed food, resulting in vast society-wide metabolic dysfunction, a raging type II diabetes epidemic, numerous auto-immune diseases, childhood cancers, and the like. Illness, by the way, is a form of slavery—a constraint on one’s life and liberties.
The freedoms many of these ideas offer need to be weighed in light of what they will do to us societally and individually. I don’t mean to suggest that all our food, farming, and life decisions are moral decisions in and of themselves, but they are freedom-oriented decisions all the same.
We don’t allow our children to simply do as they please, because we know it’s not good for their long-term wellbeing. The same is true for adults, and for society, respectively.
Joel Salatin has often posed the question in his books and lectures; “Just because we can, should we?” I think this is an excellent question to ask ourselves, both individually and societally.
Just because we can be jobless and live on the public dime, should we? Just because we can take part in a rampantly consumeristic mindset that buys everything just because the neighbors do, should we? Just because we can use so-called “benign” chemicals on our fields and gardens to eradicate pests and weeds, should we? Just because we can live irresponsibly and thoughtlessly, should we? I could go on, and I say these things to myself as much as to anyone.
We are not here to simply do as we please. We have responsibilities not only to ourselves, but to future generations and to the overall good of society. Besides, history shows that any society who does as it pleases—culturally, economically, and morally—does not remain free. I fear America is on the crux of that phenomenon.
I think holidays are an excellent time to reflect on not only the theme of the holiday, but on our lives as it pertains to the holiday as well. There’s a reason why we remember our deceased loved ones more during a holiday season (memories of past holidays, etc.). Whether it be Christmas, Easter, or the 4th of July, holidays are a time to reflect.
Today, let’s think about what contributes to freedom—real freedom—for the most people. Let’s think about the vision our forefathers had for a not only free, but a morally grounded society with the ability to keep those hard-won freedoms. Let's think about what you and I can do to live "as we ought" in order to carry these liberties forward for future generations.
Happy Independence Day, and that’s the View from the Country.
Quotes worth Re-Quoting ~
“Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect.”― Eleanor Roosevelt
Kelly's definition: "Freedom is not the ability to do whatever you want. Freedom is the strength of character to do what is good, true, noble, and right. Freedom without discipline is impossible."