Freedom Activist Network's Guide To
Freedom Philosophy

CONCEPTUALIZATION OF FREEDOM
Conceptualization · Liberty · Liberation · Other Freedoms · Multi-Dimensional Political Charts · Freedom Chart · Leftists & Rightists · Suggested Reading

REALIZATION OF FREEDOM
Realization · Exclusivicity & Compatibility · Legitimacy & Civility · Objectivity & Dissimilar Values · Optimal Freedom · Dispute Resolution · Freedomists in an Unfree World

Conceptualization of Freedom

All philosophy, and particularly all political philosophy, is about persuasion. Persuasiveness of philosophical conversation is dependent on each listener or audience. The audience can be:
1. ourselves to reaffirm or change our own actions, interests and/or beliefs; or
2. others we want to persuade; to change or reaffirm their actions, interests, and/or beliefs.

The form of the persuasive conversation can be esoteric for ourselves, or exoteric for others. The extent that esoteric and exoteric conversations diverge from each other can indicate weakness or incompleteness of the conversation. Exoteric conversations sometimes downplay or ignore embarrassing or troublesome hypothetical implications or consequences of a given conversation.

Freedom philosophy is about persuasion of ourselves and others that freedom conversation is meaningful and relevant to a wide variety of interpersonal relations and intrapersonal issues.

Almost every person has some intuitive sense of the meaning of freedom. If the use of the word freedom in conversation is analyzed, freedom is usually followed by the prepositions by, for, from, of or to; and then followed by an object. An object can be an action, actor, concept, entity, place or status. These prepositional freedoms take the form of freedom [preposition] [object]: freedom by [object], freedom for [object], freedom from [object], freedom of [object], and, freedom to [object].

Freedom can also follow adjectives, and take the form of [adjective] freedom. Adjectives are the same objects as in prepositional freedoms: action, actor, concept, entity, place or status. However, adjective freedoms lack qualifying prepositions to narrow their meanings and are more ambiguous than prepositional freedoms. For example, animal freedom can take on many meanings, because animals can be either actors or objects that can either choose or be chosen. So, animal freedom could mean "freedom for animals to make choices", or "freedom for animals to avoid" cruelty, death or habitat loss, or "freedom from animals" injuring or annoying others, or "freedom to use animals" by others for companionship, food, clothing, work or sport, or, "freedom provided by animals" such as guard dogs, seeing-eye dogs, service dogs, rescue dogs, sled dogs, mouse chasing cats, work animals, etc.

No adjectives preceding freedom implies all, some or more freedom.

Freedom "TO"

Choice = Liberty

Liberty is choice, action, alternatives, discretion, diversity, electives, flexibility, opportunity, options, perogatives, possibilities, preferences, selections, variety, volition, will, the freedom to choose.

The intra-personal liberty conversation is the persuasion of ourselves to make choices and that our choices are just and defensible because they do not impose disproportionately high costs on others to avoid the consequences of our choices.

Inter-personal (or social) liberty conversation is persuading other persons from actions that interfere with our liberties and persuading third parties to choose actions that prevent or minimize interference with our liberties by other persons.

Maximum Liberty, Optimal Liberty & Libertarianism

Libertarianism is the maximization of liberty, that is, the maximization of choice, alternatives, discretion, diversity, electives, flexibility, opportunity, options, perogatives, possibilities, selections, variety, volition, will, the preference to do as we please. If some choices are mutually exclusive, that is, two or more choices are mutually incompatible or mutually unrealizable, then maximum liberty can only be composed of optimal liberties. One example of natural exclusivicity is the inability of two or more objects to occupy the same space.

Self-Identified Libertarians

Almost all self-identified libertarians are optimal libertarians, with a variety of beliefs as to which choices are incompatible with optimal liberty. Very rare are self-identified libertarians who advocate absolute freedom to choose; they tend to also be nihilists, Sadists, libertines, licentious, or Satanists.

"Because completely unrestricted freedom of action would make peaceful human existence impossible, some restraints on freedom of action are necessary and inevitable. Virtually all codes of action recognize that basic limitation. Liberty is defined in such codes as the right of individuals to act without restraint as long as their actions do not interfere with the equivalent rights of others; acts that do violate the rights of others are rejected as license."
from "Liberty", Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 99.

Those choices optimal libertarians believe are incompatible with optimal liberty tend to fall into these loosely defined categories: initiatory force, harm, injury, and other standards of victimization.

Freedom "FROM"

Avoidance = Liberation

Liberation is avoidance, avoidability, alleviation, amelioration, autonomy, aversion, break, buffer, calm, civility, comfort, cushion, defense, easement, egress, emancipation, escape, evasion, evitability, freeing, immunity, independence, insulation, mitigation, obviation, pacification, peace, privacy, quiet, recess, refuge, relaxation, release, relief, reprieve, rescue, resolution, rest, retreat, sanctuary, security, serenity, shield, slack, space, tranquility, the preference to be left alone, freedom from the under-avoidable consequences of other persons' choices and actions. (Note: "liberation" also has other common use meanings: "freedom for", "freedom realization". However, for the purposes of this discussion, "liberation" means "freedom from".)

Maximum Liberation, Optimal Liberation & Liberationism

Liberationism is the maximization of liberation, that is, the maximization of avoidance, alleviation, amelioration, autonomy, aversion, break, buffer, calm, civility, comfort, cushion, defense, easement, egress, emancipation, escape, evasion, eviability, freeing, immunity, independence, insulation, mitigation, obviation, pacification, peace, privacy, quiet, recess, refuge, relaxation, release, relief, reprieve, rescue, resolution, rest, retreat, security, slack, space, tranquility, being left alone. If some avoidances are mutually exclusive, that is, two or more avoidances are mutually incompatible or unrealizable, then maximum liberation can only be composed of optimal liberations. One example of natural exclusivicity is the inability of two or more objects to occupy the same space.

Self-Identified Liberationists

While some self-identified liberationists are optimal liberationists, with a variety of beliefs as to which avoidances are incompatible with optimal liberation, many self-identified liberationists who believe in absolute freedom to avoid also tend to be prohibitionists and authoritarians.

Some self-identified liberationists focus on economic class to organize for freedom from government, and, any privileges and preferential policies favoring a privileged class, especially when privileges and policies are detrimental to the interests of other classes. These class liberationists focus on redistribution of wealth and power as necessary to remediate systemic injustices, past and present.

Another strain of self-identified liberationists focus on freedom from human needs such as food, shelter, medicine and education. These necessitarian liberationists advocate free (or subsidized) amenities and the necessity defense in cases of theft of food by (or for) the starving, theft of medicine by (or for) the sick, and squatting by the homeless.

It could be argued that many self-identified liberationists have an under-developed sense of liberty and liberation. Food, shelter, medicine and education are not cost free if a person's labor is required for its availability. Farmers, builders, doctors and teachers usually do not work for free willingly. If free or subsidized benefits mean beneficiaries provide nothing or little in exchange for a benefit, then, either farmers, builders, doctors and teachers must be forced to provide all (or some) of their labor uncompensated, or, some third party , either voluntary charities and/or government (with taxes, taxpayers, welfare, entitlements, transfer payments) must compensate or otherwise induce farmers, builders, doctors and teachers to provide their labor willingly.

Forced labor imposes a high cost to both liberty and liberation of the laborer. In most circumstances, and some people would argue that in all circumstances, forced labor is an illegitimate means for almost any end, including ends that may benefit the realization of some other liberty and/or liberation.

However, a distinction can be made between labor freedom and that which is not the product of labor: natural resources, land, space, sunlight, wind. (More on this to come.)

Libertarian Sense of Liberation

Most self-identified libertarians already have and always had some sense of liberation. Libertarians want freedom from government, freedom from taxes, freedom from regulation, freedom from prohibitionist laws, freedom from property confiscation, freedom from searches, freedom from seizures, freedom from invasive surveillance, freedom from initiatory force, freedom from coercion, freedom from slavery, freedom from conscription, freedom from aggression, freedom from war, freedom from injury, freedom from collateral damage, freedom from victimization, freedom from anything that impedes liberty, and to optimal libertarians: freedom from non-optimal liberties.

It could be argued that libertarians have an under-developed sense of liberation, particularly when discussing choices and actions within the grey areas of pollution, nuisance and annoyance, that do not cause significant or permanent harm or threat of harm. It would be more accurate to say that self-identified libertarians (at least in the Libertarian Party) fall back to the privatizationist, contractarian property rights position regarding pollution, nuisance and annoyance, that is, abatement or resolution can only be negotiated voluntarily and/or contractually between neighboring propertyowners. To the freedomist, contractarian theory of dispute resolution places all burdens and costs of avoidance upon the avoider, with the negotiating position of the avoider reduced to either:
1. offering incentives to the annoying neighbor to voluntarily negotiate an abatement or resolution, or
2. avoider burdened with all costs to insulate the avoider on the avoider's own property, i.e. with fences, berms, sound-proofing, air filtering, water filtering, ear plugs, gas masks, and other nuisance abatement technologies and strategies.

Liberationist Sense of Liberty

Most self-identified liberationists already have and always had some sense of liberty. Liberationists want freedom to direct action, freedom to speak, freedom to assemble, freedom to associate in unions, co-ops and communes, freedom to strike, freedom to boycott, and more controversially, freedom to condemn, detain, dismiss bosses, execute, expropriate, prohibit, regulate, seize power, tax wealth. And, to the optimal liberationist: freedom to realize optimal liberations and freedom to abolish or repeal non-optimal liberations.

While some of the aforementioned liberties may be of questionable legitimacy, self-identified liberationists of all shades are very willing to exercise their choices and opportunities.

Other Freedoms?

Liberty or "freedom to" has been described as the "positive" freedom, and, liberation or "freedom from" has been described as the "negative" freedom. Another way of understanding the distinction is to describe liberty as the "ingressive" freedom and liberation as the "egressive" freedom. This would suggest that there are only two forms of freedom. Could there be three or more forms of freedom? Perhaps. Hypothetically, there may be freedoms that cannot be adequately categorized as either liberty or liberation, and our minds should be remain open to that possibility. Pragmatically, our uncertainty about the number of freedoms does not prevent us from discussing known forms of freedoms. We can only keep in the back of our minds that when we discuss the interactions between liberty and liberation, there may be other interactions with unknown freedoms that could alter the liberty-liberation discussion.

Freedom FROM
Liberation
Avoidability
Negative
Egressive
Reactive
Leftist

Freedom TO
Liberty
Choice
Positive
Ingressive
Active
Rightist

Multi-Dimensional Political Charts

Libertarians use the "Nolan Chart", named after libertarian David Fraser Nolan, to demonstrate a two-dimensional alternative to the conventional one-dimensional liberal-conservative or leftist-rightist dichotomies. One dimension of the Nolan Chart square is labeled "personal liberty" and second dimension is labeled "economic liberty". Nolan Chart critics argue that personal liberty and economic liberty are indivisible, while Nolan Chart proponents argue that the Nolan Chart is intended to show that conservatives prefer economic liberty over personal liberty, liberals prefer personal liberty over economic liberty, and libertarians favor both liberties more.

Nolan Charts

Alternate "Political Compass"

Alternate "Plan for a New Political Party"

Alternate "Who is More Liberal, Senator Obama or Senator Clinton?"

Freedom Chart

The Freedom Chart has one dimension labeled "liberty" while the second dimension is labeled "liberation".

Freedom Chart

×
×         ×
×                  ×
×                           ×
×                                   ×
×              Freedomist             ×
×         Libertarian-Liberationist         ×
×                                                               ×
×                                                                        ×
×        Liberationist         Liberal             Libertarian       ×
×                          Progressive   Conservative                         ×
×                                 Socialist          Populist                                 ×
×                                                                                                             ×
×                                                                                                                      ×
×                                             Communist        Fascist                                               ×
×                                                                                                                  Libertine         ×
×         Prohibitionist                                                                                             Licentious         ×
Max     ×                                                                                                                                       ×     Max
×                                                                                                                              ×
×                                                                                                                     ×
×                                                                                                            ×
×                                                                                                   ×
×                                                                                          ×
×                                                                                 ×
LIBERATION     ×                                                                        ×     LIBERTY
FREEDOM FROM      ×                                                               ×      FREEDOM TO
×                                                      ×
×                                              ×
×                                    ×
×                           ×
×                  ×
×         ×
Min     ×     Min

Freedom Chart

Other Multi-Dimensional Freedom & Nolan Chart Websites

Advocates for Self-Government's World's Smallest Political Quiz
American Freedom Committee's Freedom Circle
Enhanced Political Quiz in 2D
Freedom Keys' Nolan Chart Variations
Friesian School's Positive & Negative Liberties in Three Dimensions
LibertySoft's World's Smallest Political Quiz Download
Mackinac Center's "Is Mackinac Center for Public Policy Liberal? Libertarian? Conservative?", Chart
Carl S Milsted's Freedom vs Equality
Neo-Libertarian
Nolan Chart
On The Issues' Pop-up Grid
Political Compass
Wirman Virkkala's Is Libertarianism an Extremism?
Vosem Chart Locator
Voteview's Spatial Models of Parliamentary Voting
Wikipedia's Nolan Chart
Laird Wilcox's Beyond Left/Right

Leftists & Rightists

What is "leftist" and what is "rightist"?

1. Liberation-Liberty Basis. Surveys would show that self-identified leftists identify more favorably with the word "liberation" than self-identified rightists. Conversely, surveys would show that rightists identify more favorably with the word "liberty" than leftists. On that basis, one could generalize that liberation is leftist and liberty is rightist. Surveys would also show that rightists identify more favorably with the words "conservative", "populist", and "religion" than leftists, and surveys would also show that leftists identify more favorably with the words "liberal", "progressive", "secular", "socialist", "government" and, ironically, "anarchist" than rightists.

2. Issue by Issue Basis. However, surveys based on single issues would show both leftists and rightists have both libertarian and liberationist interests depending on specific issues. Leftists would be more libertarian than rightists on lifestyle issues such as abortion, cannabis, drugs, eroticism, gaming, gays, pornography, reproduction and sex. Rightists would be more libertarian than leftists on death penalty, economics, environment, firearms, military, police, property, technology and tobacco issues. The following chart correlates leftist and rightist with libertarian and liberationist interests on many issues.

Reactive

Co^.Active

Active

Aggressive
^.
Egressive

Non^.Aggressive

Ingressive
^.
Aggressive

Prohibitionist
^.
Liberationist
^.
Freedomist
^.
Libertarian

^.

Libertine

Prohibitionism
^.
Liberation
^.
Freedom
^.
Liberty
^.
License

Issue
Freedom From

Freedom To & From

Freedom To

(Unspecified)
Leftist

Centrist?*

Rightist

Abortion
Rightist

Leftist

Cannabis
Rightist

Leftist

Death Penalty
Leftist

Rightist

Drugs
Rightist

Leftist

Economics
Leftist

Rightist

Environment
Leftist

Rightist

Eroticism
Rightist

Leftist

Firearms
Leftist

Rightist

Gaming
Rightist

Leftist

Gays
Rightist

Leftist

Government
Rightist

Leftist

Immigration
**

**

Military
Leftist

Rightist

Police
Leftist

Rightist

Pornography
Rightist

Leftist

Property
Leftist

Rightist

Reproduction
Rightist

Leftist

Sex
Rightist

Leftist

Taxation
Rightist

Leftist

Technology
Leftist

Rightist

Tobacco
Leftist

Rightist

* Historically, centrist penchant for compromise often lacked consistent principles. However, libertarian-liberationist freedom can rightfully claim to be a truly principled centrist political philosophy.

** Immigration Freedom cleaves both Leftist and Rightist groupings. Leftists who want freedom from immigration are nationalistic unionists and lower-income workers who oppose wage and labor competition from immigrant laborers. Leftists who want freedom to immigration support the right of the poor and minorities to travel and migrate to places that offer more or better work opportunities. Rightists who want freedom from immigration are nationalistic populists who are interested in preserving and insulating national heritage, culture and language from foreign influences. Rightists who want freedom to immigration are economic conservatives, free traders, and employers seeking low-wage laborers or seeking to reduce domestic labor shortages. Until recently, rightists in the US Republican Party have extended their anti-communist, pro-life appeal among Catholics to include Cubans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and other Latinos, and therefore, became more libertarian on immigration issues. However, recently, many Republican Party candidates and activists have reverted to an authoritarian, law and order position on illegal immigration in response to perceived voter opposition to immigration, which will probably result in loss of Latino and Catholic support.

Other Leftist/Rightist Websites

American Freedom Committee: Freedom Circle
DiscoverTheNetworks.org: Conservative/Right, Liberal/Left/Progressive
Richard M Ebeling: "Still Neither Left Nor Right"
Glass House Philosopher
NationMaster.com Encyclopedia: Left Right politics, Leftism, Radical centrism, Right Wing
Howard R Olson: Right-Left Con Game: The False Choice Between Civil-Liberty & Economic Freedom
Leonard E Read: "Neither Left Nor Right"
Mark Skousen: "Neither Left nor Right"
Stop the Left-Right Con Game!

Realization of Freedom

To come!

Exclusivicity & Compatibility of Freedoms

Liberty and liberation are not necessarily zero-sum commodities. To an optimalist, an expansion of freedom may not lead to an equal or greater reduction of other freedoms. In an idealized universe, expansion of freedom would not reduce other freedoms at all. An analogy to this hyper-compatible universe would be where not only "two objects could occupy the same space", but also where "two objects could pass through each other unchanged and undamaged".

Civil Freedoms: Civility, Tolerance, Sensitivity, Prohibitionisms, Libertinisms and Legitimacy

Libertinisms (or license) can be thought as those choices or policies that impose too great a cost to liberation, and prohibitionisms can be thought as those policies that impose too great a cost to liberty. While not all prohibitions are prohibitionisms, prohibitionisms are characterized by a lack of complaintants (other than law enforcement officers), a lack of victims, a lack of harm, a lack of threat, or a lack of exceptions, including, but not limited to, exceptions for time, place, setting, mitigating circumstances or consenting participants.

Glossary: civility, legitimacy, libertinism, prohibitionism, sensitivity, tolerance

Liberty and Liberation as Dissimilar Values:
Objectivity, Subjectivity, Relativity and Value Exchanges

To come!

Optimal Freedom & Comaximization of Liberty and Liberation

Just as optimal liberty is the optimization or comaximization of liberties, and optimal liberation is the optimization or comaximization of liberations, optimal freedom is the optimization or comaximization of both liberty freedoms and liberation freedoms, that is, the simultaneous maximization of choice and avoidability.

I've created a new "L" word that fuses the words "liberty" and "liberation": libertation, a synonym for "freedom", "optimal freedom" and "libertarian-liberationist freedom", and libertationist, a synonym for "libertarian-liberationist". - FAN Director Rich Birkett

Balancing Freedoms, Dispute Resolution & Justice:
Markets, Juries & Democracy

To come!

Freedomists in an Unfree World*

Some steps freedomists can take to promote freedom:

Message

Simple message: "Preserve and expand choice and avoidability."

Persuasion

Persuade libertarians, conservatives, liberals, liberationists, and anarchists to be more freedomist.
Persuade voters and other people that freedomist philosophy is less radical and more civil, more compassionate and more humane than other political philosophies.
Persuade, become or support independent candidates with No Party Affiliation who are freedomists or share most goals of freedomists.

Election Reform

Abolish partisan elections. Allow a candidate's self-description as an alternative to partisan descriptions on election ballots.
Reform "winner-take-all" elections with a more fully representative election system, with the fewest unrepresented voters, possibly with proportional representation, preferential voting, instant runoff voting, approval voting, or other more fully representative election system. Allocation of proportional representation should be distributed to individual candidates, not parties.
Expand direct democracy with propositions, initiatives, referendums and recalls.

Partisan Strategies

Consider which partisan strategies, if any, 1) are, or, 2) could be more effective than non-partisan strategies.
Establish Freedom Caucuses in established political parties.
Persuade Republican Liberty Caucus, Democratic Freedom Caucus, Freedom Democrats and other pro-freedom major political party organizations to be more freedomist.
In winner-take-all partisan elections, isolate anti-freedom and non-freedomist candidates and activists to two or more parties, i.e. religious, moral and lifefstyle prohibitionists to Republican Party and economic prohibitionists to Democratic Party. Don't suggest anti-freedom and non-freedomist activists should form coalitions. Divide and splinter critics, don't unite them.
Merge Libertarian Party, Liberal Parties, and other established pro-freedom minor parties into one big-tent Freedom Party. Where Freedom Party is already established, persuade to be more freedomist. Third party strategies have been historically ineffective, so this strategy may be too.

* FAN acknowledges Harry Browne's How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World as the inspiration for this heading.

Freedom Activist Network's Guide To Freedom Philosophy

Conceptualization of Freedom

Freedom "TO"

Choice = Liberty

Freedom "FROM"

Avoidance = Liberation

Other Freedoms?

Multi-Dimensional Political Charts

Freedom Chart

Other Multi-Dimensional Freedom & Nolan Chart Websites

Other Leftist/Rightist Websites

Realization of Freedom

Exclusivicity & Compatibility of Freedoms

Liberty and Liberation as Dissimilar Values: Objectivity, Subjectivity, Relativity and Value Exchanges

Optimal Freedom & Comaximization of Liberty and Liberation

Balancing Freedoms, Dispute Resolution & Justice: Markets, Juries & Democracy

Freedomists in an Unfree World*

Suggested Reading

Freedom Activist Network's Guide To
Freedom Philosophy

Liberty and Liberation as Dissimilar Values:
Objectivity, Subjectivity, Relativity and Value Exchanges

Balancing Freedoms, Dispute Resolution & Justice:
Markets, Juries & Democracy