Whose Freedom Is It Anyway

I recently heard a comedian say: Of the world’s 84 free countries, the United States has the highest incarceration rate. Tongue-in-cheek, this

funny man seriously challenged our claim to be “Home of the Free.” I immediately verified the statistics, and shockingly (at least to me) the US has the highest number of prisoners (relative to population) in the entire world. Of the adult population, 2.8% are in jail.  Yikes.

Not to worry, I’m not going about to crawl into a quagmire and blog about Prison Reform. Instead, these stats made me reconsider my definition of freedom. Regardless of your stance on the penal system, you must admit, our justice system decides who’s free and who isn’t. They’ve decided that taxpayers (which I’m guessing is most of the people reading this blog) must pay for the incarcerations. And while some say the only sure thing is death and taxes, suicide and assisted suicides are mostly illegal. So just what does the term freedom even mean? 

One dictionary definition is “exemption from external control.” Given the number of laws, regulations, ordinances, etc., etc., that certainly isn’t the average American.

The next definition, “power to determine action without restraint.” Ah, there’s a definition I can live with. I do get to choose which rules I break.

However (you knew that was coming, right?) …

What if my freedom affects you?

If I decide not to mow my yard, not only is your aesthetic freedom challenged, my freedom-of-choice affects your freedom to enjoy your cookout—i.e. tall grass is a breeding ground for bugs. Your choice to not be vaccinated impacts my ability to stay healthy. Your choice to text while driving impacts my ability to drive without risking my life. And don’t get me started on those people who employ their freedom to not flush public toilets.

You see where I’m going, right.  Basically nowhere.

All I know for sure is that freedom would be a lot simpler if we all “choose” to exercise common courtesy.