The Economics of Freedom

The concept of freedom means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. To some it might mean a responsibility-free weekend. To others it could mean the beginning of summer vacation, the payoff of a burdensome mortgage, or the completion of a two-week stay in the county jail. However, to many, it has a much deeper and more emotional meaning. The dictionary defines freedom as a noun meaning: “the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.” Notice that this definition puts the emphasis on acting, speaking, and thinking. The U.S. Declaration of Independence emphasizes similar sentiments: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”1 Authored by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration was edited by the Committee of Five: John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Thomas Jefferson, and Robert Livingston. It was further edited by the Committee of the Whole of the Second Continental Congress and adopted on July 4, 1776.2 Thus, the American experiment began in a landscape of almost total freedom. The central government was quite small in those days. The new citizens of the fledgling United States could do pretty much what they wanted, if they did not harm their fellow citizens. The nation’s founders viewed government as an institution designed to promote life and liberty, not to interfere with it. This is a striking contrast from the view that citizens exist to support and provide government with the resources to do what it wants to do. All too often we hear the refrain from government leaders that they need more money. It is important to remember that governments always want more money. There is no art which one government sooner learns of another than that of draining money from the pockets of the people. Adam Smith The signers of the Declaration of Independence were well-aware of the abuses of government. As British colonists, they were continually reminded of the intrusive power of the British authorities. It is fascinating that Jefferson, in the Declaration of Independence, observed that King George III: “has erected a multitude of new offices and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.”3 Governments of all sorts seem eager to engage in these activities as they grow larger. If you hire 1,000 government employees and send them to Washington, D.C. to regulate something, that is exactly what they will do. This will go on forty hours each week, 52 weeks each year, year after year, decade after decade, and ofttimes much longer. It is just the nature of the beast. Many of these government activities continue long after they are needed. According to scholars R.J. Teare and H.L. McPheeters: “In 1803, the British created a civil service job calling for a man to stand on the Cliffs of Dover with a spy glass. He was supposed to ring a bell if he saw Napoleon coming. The job was abolished in 1945.”4 Napoleon had been dead for 124 years. Having seen government heavy-handedness, interference, and inefficiency first-hand, the founders resolved to avoid a repeat. This is why the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are so specific about individual freedom. The Bill of Rights (the first 10 amendments to the Constitution) ratified on December 15, 1791, guaranteed very particular rights to all American citizens. The Bill of Rights protected individual freedom. Author William F. Buckley, Jr. described the Bill of Rights as a “Ten Commandments, a syllabus of constraints.”5 It is critical to note that the entity that needs to be constrained is government, not individuals. By careful design, the Bill of Rights enumerates distinct and specific freedoms, liberties, and rights of the people.