Comment by kvdveer
21 days ago
"freedom from", you will not be given a prevention from some horrible disease. You can buy it if you can afford it, but a significant portion of the population can't, and some of them will not be able to enjoy life because of it.
"freedom to", a prevention will be provided. You can always decide to take alternatives, if you can afford it. A significant portion of the population can't. They will be able to enjoy life.
Equating freedom with the liberties the rich have is absurd. In any society, the rich will have the most freedom, even in the most oppressive ones. The true litmus test for freedom is seeing the freedoms the poor can enjoy. By that standard, the US doesn't score very well.
How free a country is can be determined by this question.
Would you choose to be a randomly chosen citizen? You could be anyone in that country with all the rights, privileges - or lack thereof - that that random person has.
I think I'd rather be a random Canadian with healthcare and education than a random American.
It's an interesting thought experiment.
This is an actual thought experiment by John Rawls: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_position
I like to take it one step further.
Which country would you choose if you had to be poor?
I’d probably choose Cuba.
Wouldn’t the question better be “would you be happy with the freedoms of a random person” otherwise you’re including all kinds of other factors?
As a random US citizen, chances are high though that you voted Trump and are ok with all this nonsense. So, should be ok?
Fortunately for everyone, even some of the people who voted for trump are having second thoughts now they are living it.
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