Schizophrenic Freedom

Economic freedom - a term used by such greedmongering tanks as the Fraser Institute and the Heritage Foundation, good old bastions for the GOP, as insulated from the real world as the crackheads on the streets of DC - is not freedom. The idea of economic freedom is not a bad one, mind you, but it is the force behind the phrase that has warped its definition to something far more sinister.

The annual indices these organizations put out consider size of government; expenditures, taxes, and enterprises; property rights; access to sound money; trade policy; informal market activity; and the regulation of credit, labor, and business, among other indicators. Sounds benign, right? The indices themselves are benign - it's how they are used that is the problem. See, the indices are used by foreign investors to determine whether or not a country has a safe investment climate. Foreign Direct Investment is the new colonialism.

Of course, if you say something like this, it's all "moonbattery," isn't it? Is it? What is colonialism? Colonizers dominated the resources, labor, and markets of the colonial territories and also imposed socio-cultural and linguistic structures on the conquered populations. How is that different than Western multinational corporations moving into developing countries, setting up shop, and dominating a country's economy? Who gets the profits from FDI? Who is in the most powerful positions in the world today?

Those at the top are the ones whose lives revolve around the billions of dollars they make a year, the ones who rule the world without a conscience, the Carlysle Group, Club for Growth types. While wealthy people like Bill Gates are using their billions to make the world a better place, the Growth worshippers exist to control governments so that they themselves will benefit, so they will become richer than they already are. These are the people who preach the "power of the individual," who demonize government regulation so they are free to stomp on whomever they can to suck down more profits.

What do they want? The freedom to return to man's state of nature, where it is every man for himself, where we live in a constant state of war? Excessive individualism has repeatedly led to the downfall of civilizations. Plato attributed this individualism to the decline of Athenian democracy. He didn't predict the downfall of Athens - he opened his eyes and witnessed his country declining in front of him. By no means are Plato's ideas perfect, but there are lessons learned in his writings.

The freedom to pursue material things is not freedom at all. Indeed, it is quite the opposite. It is slavery. This is why the Club for Growth types who propel the global economy are so Orwellian. They are slaves to their own desires, and we all must suffer because of it. Let me use the real estate industry as an example. Housing should be a fundamental right, as it is one of the basic necessities of living. However, in DC, for example, a twenty something person like myself has to spend at least half a month's pay on rent to live in a place that is safe enough to walk through. It's wrong, but I don't have a choice. Personal choice advocates are those who have the means to make a choice, but those of us on the bottom of the totem pole don't have that choice.

This Growth Monster has become a leviathan that is difficult to combat. We all saw what the Swift Boat Assholes (they don't deserve to be called veterans) did during the 2004 election cycle. Well, they're back, under a different name: the Economic Freedom Fund, a 527 group formed by the infamous Robert J. Perry, the swiftboat asshole. (He is the little man on the front of the swiftboat travelling through Hell in the picture. Photoshop rox.) He and the assholes he surrounds himself with, including Cincinnati tycoon and former Cincinnati Reds majority owner Carl Lindner, will be out in full force this election. They've been busy suing Indiana, but no doubt they'll have plenty of time to spread their lies in the next month.

Economic freedom is a code word for aristocracy. It has nothing to do with real freedom. Islamic fundies in Al-Qaeda follow the philosophy of Sayed Qutb, a man who described Western obsession with material things as "hideous schizophrenia." With assholes like Robert J. Perry and Carl Lindner, it's no wonder we are engaged in a war with Islamic extremists.