In the west we still enjoy a lot of freedom. We are allowed to state our opinions, at least as long as we do not become to influential. We have some freedom to act economically and we still have a good amount of private freedom. But all of these freedoms are under attack. Our economy is being more and more regulated turning into a permission-based system. Our freedom of speech is taking big blows by limiting our options to communicate online and prosecuting whistleblowers under espionage law. And our private freedoms are being removed by illegal mass surveillance.

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What happens when our freedom is gone?

There are lots of countries with less freedom and almost all of them are ruled by a corrupt elite suppressing the local population. We are not fundamentally different. Power corrupts and without controll is bound to eventually create such oppressive systems.

Even when we believe our governments would not abuse their power and only act in the best of our interests, the people in office today will not be in power forever. While we may be fine giving up some freedom toady, it becomes much harder to claim this freedom back once we have a repressive government than defending it now under a more 'liberal' authority.

The only thing that stops oppressive governments are powerful citizens that are able to act without permission. The government needs to fear its citizens and the citizens need to be a real threat to the people in power. Everything else is a more or less direct form of slavery.

The rulers will always argue for less freedom to reduce the threat of criminals. But the same laws will be applied to dissidents and establishing controll over the entire population. Safety versus Freedom is a lie. Without freedom there may be safety from criminals but over time the criminals will be in the government and at that point your safety is finally gone.

What has made the west special was a deep rooted culture of private freedom. And today it is up to us to defend these ideals against authoritarians taking freedom away piece by piece and leading us into yet another dark epoch.
Support for unconditional freedom is falling. People believe it is too dangerous or irresponsible. What about the poor, the criminals, the nazis, drug users, terrorists, foreigners, muslims ...(add whatever you want here)? And the biggest problem is that when people give up their freedom they do not pay the price immediately. At first life becomes safer, simpler and more comfortable. But the price will eventually be payed many years in the future. At some point it will be forbidden to talk negative about the government, all communication will be monitored. Financial transaction will need government approval and much more. Dissidents will be thrown into prisons and charged for faked crimes. When you look closely we are already seeing the beginnings and all of these are already happening in extreme cases. It is scary to imagine what would be possible if all of the opportunities that already exist right now would be used by some smart actors.

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And only when freedom is finally gone everyone will painfully notice the true value of freedom. Government will dictate our lives while resistance will become dangerous and almost impossible. East Germany created an amazing surveillance state on a rather low-tech level. Imagine the possibilities of such a system combined with our current technology.

The right and the left

As so often the attackers come from both sides of the political circus. The right is calling for tougher action arguing that the national states need to be protected against foreign invasions. But even if you love your country, can you still say it is worth defending when gave up all principles and turned into a oppressive dictatorship?
The left is obsessed with the idea of equality and arguing to cut freedoms to protect diversity. But what does diversity mean when the government controls everything? Can you really force people to be tolerant?

Politicians do not understand freedom and fear it (for good reason). But freedom in its most unrestricted form is a fundamental value. Without it everything else becomes meaningless. Whatever you may be fighting for, does it still hold value when people are not able to act upon it without permission. When people do not have the right to decide for themselves and live the way they want. We have enough examples, just look at human history and open your eyes.