On Freedom

by Timothy Snyder

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. A right to life begins with knowledge: what life is; how life works; how life is possible on this earth. If we neglect that knowledge, we cease to be. We are vulnerable to nature and to those who wish to manipulate and harm us. Yet if we gain and apply knowledge about the energy of life, we can not only avoid the worst but ensure the best. Our universe neither makes us free nor prevents us from being free. It leaves open a realm of what should be, a law of freedom that allows us our endless combinations of virtues. Its constraints become our capacities if we understand them and apply our knowledge with a purpose. Negative freedom is enmeshed in lying. That we need no government is a false account of us and the world, defended by people who falsify the world. Because burning fossil fuels will make life impossible, those who thereby profit spread lies that lead us all toward death. Conversely, the sources of energy that will also allow us to live will allow us to do so freely and more honestly. Alternatives such as solar energy and fusion are hard to centralize and therefore do not favor oligarchy. They are consonant with what we understand about life on Earth and so do not require a deadly net of propaganda. If we can break the oligarchical lying now, a better future awaits.