Complex Numbers

Something Completely Different

From a Canadian column:

http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=70709403-81f8-4716-...

Apparently, the political happiness of we who live in Western liberal democracies is flat-lining -- or even declining -- despite all the choice and affluence we enjoy.

William Gorton, author of the paper, "Too Much of a Good Thing: Freedom, Individualism, Autonomy and the Decline of Happiness in Liberal Democracies," postulated that "the causes of this stagnation or decline may be attributable, directly or indirectly, to core values of liberalism -- namely freedom of choice, autonomy and individualism."

Moving past the obvious rejoinder that only U.S. citizens are allowed to pursue happiness,

No doubt, there will be those on the right and the left who agree with Prof. Gorton, and who will pounce on his conclusions to advance their own anti-freedom agendas.

The article goes on to make several points about what "freedom" really is that have been knocking around in my head for a while. If only I were a writer, I could have articulated them before now.

We may be free to buy big-screen HDTVs until we are blue in the face -- and be presented with an awe-inspiring array of models -- but we are no longer free to speak our minds without fear that crusading government agents will seek to punish and silence us.

...

Freedom isn't failing us. We are unhappy because we are no longer free.

Read the article, if you will. Agree? Disagree? Agree with reservations? As far as I can tell, the points made are valid whether you're talking about Canada, Britain or the US - or, perhaps, other countries, but those are the ones with which I'm most familiar.

But even if we agree... is it too late to do anything about it?