Freedom vs. Totalitarianism

[Skybird]

https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/...t-and-present/

The first is that democracy by itself is not freedom. The totalitarian tyrants of the 1930s all proclaimed that theirs were the freest and most democratic societies on earth. Freedom was the advancement of the good of the society as a whole. Stalin, Mussolini, and Hitler all insisted that their coercive collectivist means were the most democratic methods because they suppressed the narrow, petty, and individual interests of some so the true interests of all (the workers, the nation, the race) could triumph for the promised better world in the making.

These were sham democracies, with no real freedom, of course. Democratic processes are usually majoritarian procedures for determining how those holding political office will be appointed through elections and for what period of time. They do not say, by themselves, what the government will do or for what ends.

Freedom means rights, autonomy, and dignity for the individual human being. When William Rappard delivered a series of lectures at the University of Chicago in 1938 (“The Crisis of Democracy”), he reminded his listeners, “What was primary in the eyes of the founders of American independence were the individual rights of equality [before the law] and liberty. Democracy, however important, was but secondary — a necessary means toward an absolute end.… Popular government was set up, not so much by reason of any inherent virtues of its own, as because it was deemed necessary to establish and safeguard the fundamental rights of the individual.”

Free societies are those that recognize and respect freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of peaceful and voluntary association and assembly, and freedom of religion. No democratic government should be considered legitimate, Rappard said, that did not arise from the existence and unmolested practice of such freedoms. How can people express their views and values, debate important issues that jointly may matter to them, or organize with others who share their perspectives and interests if these rights are not protected?

But more fundamental than these political prerequisites to effective and functioning democratic systems was the importance of these and related individual rights for the freedom of individuals to live their lives as they choose — selecting their own ends, deciding on the possibly appropriate means to their ends’ achievement — and their free association and voluntary exchange in pursuit of mutual gain.