View source for Freedom (propaganda)

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[[Category:Libertarian Propaganda Terms]]
[[Category:Freedom|100]]
{{DES | des = Libertarians prattle a great deal about freedom, but seldom define it well.  Freedom is the practical ability to stop people from interfering with your activities. This is a positive, active, costly definition.}}
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Libertarians prattle a great deal about freedom, but seldom define it well.  Usually, they speak of [[Positive and Negative Liberty|positive and negative freedom]] and [[Economic Freedom]].  Positive and negative freedom is a false dichotomy based on a severe misframing.  Economic freedom is a code phrase for the dominance of property over popular sovereignty (democracy.)

Freedom is the practical ability to stop people from interfering with your activities. You notice that this is not a negative, passive nor costless definition, but positive, active and costly. Freedoms can conflict because they are rooted in your ability to take coercive action to stop people from interfering with your activities. We create government to regulate the coercion, so that there is less conflict. Practical ability means that it is not too expensive to stop unwanted interference.

Every freedom creates a corresponding unfreedom for others.  For example, if I am free to make something my property, others are not free to make it their property afterwards.  We value various freedoms and unfreedoms differently because they have different opportunity costs and enforcement costs, and consider the tradeoffs.

Given this understanding of freedom, most libertarian analyses look very confused, if not stupid.

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