Environmentalism and freedom


Why I don't have the right to make choices for people and keep my own
When it comes to my blogs, the most popular email I get usually runs something like "How can you call yourself Pagan when you don't believe in global warming?"

For me, free markets are THE guiding principle. Everything I have seen and everything that I have experienced tells me that when people make their own choices without coercion and force AND accept responsibility for the consequences, over time their choices become better. They tend to learn from their bad choices. That ability to choose while taking responsibility is the core of the free market.

And it is the cornerstone of freedom.

I'm lucky. I was born in America during the second half of the 20th Century. Although there has been some friction, none the less I was able to choose the faith that worked best for me. I would not have been happy with the "faith of my fathers," I know that because I tried for years to be the best Christian I knew how to be. I even went to seminary and studied for the ministry for a short time.

That same time period let people make all sorts of choices openly and without fear of legal sanction. In some case without responsibility as well, but that is beginning to change. People could choose how to express their sexuality. Piercing and tattoos became common. Gender began to loose it's power to restrict opportunity. That silly concept of "race" began to lose it's hold over the American public. Environmental awareness grew. Choices grew in everything from grocery stores to entertainment to footwear. No longer was there just one or two or even three accepted ways to do things.

People had choice. Each year, they had more freedom to choose among more choices.

Just as I should have no authority to decide what my neighbor should eat today, my neighbor has no power to determine what I wear. The free market gives choices to any who accept the responsibility.

The guy down the street can own the very latest sports car if he can afford it, I have no right to tell him otherwise. The family across the street can paint their house a florescent orange and I can't say word one. The couple the next street over can go out partying and leave their teenage children alone four nights a week and there is nothing I can do.

They are adults, the choice and responsibility are theirs.

I've no rights or power in the matter unless their freedom interferes with mine.

That sports car can't go in my driveway without my permission. The family can't paint my house. And if those kids are egging my house, you better believe I want to be compensated and will sue to get it.

Just as I expect to be left alone with my own choices and the consequences, I have to do the same for my neighbors. Even if I don't agree with their choices.

Especially if I don't agree with their choices.

To do less would be to deny that they are adults. To do less would be to deny their very humanity. To do less would cheapen the freedom that I enjoy because it would come at the cost of theirs.

I can demand that they accept responsibility but that is all I can do.

The whole argument for human caused global warming is based on the harm that my neighbor is supposedly doing to me. But if I can find no proof of that harm, then I have no right to tell them what to do.

They could put a toxic waste dump in their living room, and until it pollutes the air we share, leeches into the water table, or spews radioactivity all over, it's not my concern. It's their mess in their nest, and if it doesn't spill over, it's not mine.

I am not responsible for them. The moment I try to be, I make them unworthy. I take away the very things that make them human.

Conversely, if someone acts against my neighbor based on unfounded accusations, I am obligated to defend them. Otherwise I sacrifice my freedom. And then I can't make my choices.

As much as I cherish the planet, it's best served by people making their own choices and cleaning their own nests.

That is the price of choice. And the reward of freedom.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Thu - March 8, 2007 at 01:15 PM  Tag


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