Freeeeedom!

If you've spent any time in the US you'll have noticed that freedom is a pretty popular concept round these parts. In the UK its generally followed by the words "of speech" and used to excuse some heinously xenophobic/homophobic/mysogynistic/idiotic poorly-expressed opinion. There are a number of reasons for that, not least the fact that the UK has, for the majority of recent history, been the one doing the oppressing.

Anyway, freedom is for people who can be trusted to make sensible decisions, and we all know that NOONE can be trusted to make sensible decisions. Thats why, in the UK, we generally entrust all our decisions to the government, the doctor, the bank, the dentist (don't get me started), Mystic Meg and the National Lottery. We enjoy being free to do whatever we want in the strict confines of social and legal parameters. 

But in the US one is free to choose the doctor who will perform one's surgery based on their exam results, the bread one feeds one's children based on extensive research into the FDA recommendations and even legislative changes based on proposals submitted by locals that are voted upon in local elections. Its a fundamental principle and it started when a load of people left Europe and sailed to the New World because they were sick of being told who they could worship in their home countries. A few hundred years (and many thousand terrible deaths) later and the US celebrates its noble origins, with freedom at its heart. Freedom, in the early stages, meant that Catholics were able to practice their faith without being killed, and people fought for that freedom to secure a better life for their families for generations to come. That is the freedom that set down a constitutional right for men to take up arms and fight to retain this religious freedom. This is an important concept, and a noble principle on which a republic can be built.

Sad, then, that its with the same frenzied fervor that some locals now claim the freedom to turn right at a red light (unless otherwise directed). (By that logic, is it also freedom that underpins the neglectful signaling on the roads of Northern California?) 

From such solid foundations, is this particular founding principle overused and misconstrued to justify mild to moderate wankish behavior? I fight for the freedom to bear arms and teach my 9 year old daughter to fire an uzi (that then kills a man. Yeah, no, totes legit. Your kid won't be fucked up for the rest of her life, no worries). I fight for the freedom to practice my faith, though I'm not at all a fan of those other religious nutters, so we should probably tell them to fuck off back to where they came from. And (to get a bit darker) freedom is so important I think we should export it to places across the world who aren't as free as us. 

I'm also loathe to mention it, but even these solid foundations are a bit shaky. Its only begrudgingly noted that the tribal people who lived here before the early American settlers were forced to convert to Catholicism and live and work with the missionaries, farming the land. 

I sound scathing, but thats only because I'm British and, having rarely heard this word outside of the BBC news it is suddenly jammed down ones cake hole on a daily basis. In reality this approach is actually pretty smart, and underpinning it is the good nature of most of the people who really believe in it: as long as 'freedom' is the watch word then the plebs will be squabbling about being free to take a gun into an airport (its cool, you can), the government can legitimately go to war in the name of freedom, and commercial entities can over charge for life-saving drugs in the name of freedom (its a free market, you know, and we are all free to choose which insurance company, which medical professional and which branded medication we'll be nailing our colors to).  

I guess as long as the concept of freedom appeals to the well-meaning nature of the masses then its a useful tool of government. Add freedom to Sunday College Football and you've got a very happy and malleable plebeian mass. 

Freedom five.
http://gph.is/1owGjKT

And for the Brits? Well, aside from taking freedom for granted, we also acknowledge that you need structures in place to stop stupid people eating themselves to death or ploughing into the back of a bus whilst texting. 

I think I've worked out there are three main reasons the freedom thing has a tendency to piss us off. Firstly, it is often shouted, loudly and inappropriately and we do not approve of such brash displays of emotion (we are repressed oppressors). Secondly, none of us know enough about our own history to be able to argue with the 'oppressive british' epithet, giving us a sense of shame and self-disappointment that we can revel in (we are depressed repressed oppressors). And thirdly, we think we're smart enough to see through all this perceived freedom nonsense - we've been free for a lot longer than you, sonny-jim (we are aggressive repressed oppressors). Now, where's me season ticket - I'm off with the blue army to chant stuff and drink in the street. As long as I can take an open can of lager through Marks & Sparks then I am truly living free (its cool, I can).