Ruth Institute Blog

Rev. Dale S. Kuehne, Ph.D.

The Richard L. Bready Chair in Ethics, Economics, and the Common Good

Saint Anselm College

I often wish I could summon our founding fathers from the grave to engage our society in a discussion on liberty, but I am afraid they would have difficulty making themselves understood.  Not because of a language barrier, but because a pervasive contemporary misconception of the nature of freedom.  “Liberty” and “rights” are among the most misunderstood words in the English language.  It is commonly believed that freedom is the mere absence of restraint, and that so long as we don’t hurt anyone and have the consent of others for our actions we should be permitted to do as we please.  By itself, however, the absence of restraint is no gift.  Some choices enhance a free society, other choices, freely made, can undermine freedom.  Freedom is ultimately based on what a citizen chooses to do when restraint is absent. 

Plato and Aristotle understood that at any given moment in our lives there are three voices within who are competing for our attention; our appetites, our emotions, and reason.  Each has an important role in their lives, provided they play the role for which they are designed.  Appetites are essential to existence.  Were my body not to indicate when I need food or water I could not survive.  If we did not have sexual appetite procreation would be in peril.  But our appetites, if not controlled, would enslave us. For instance if I listened to my appetites I would have a dozen donuts and a quart of coffee for breakfast every morning and I’d be dead.  When appetites rule us they rob us of our freedom.  Enslavement to appetite is another word for addiction. Appetites are the foundation of every 12 step-group, and it can bring ruin to the life of the addict and his or her family.

One of the best examples of appetite run wild in America is found in our sexual addictions.  Half of our children have viewed hard-core pornography by the age 14, effectually making pornography sex education in America today.  Despite the fact that virtually every academic study demonstrates the harmful impact porn has on people of all ages, this addiction is gaining more and more power over us.  How does access to pornography rob us of our freedom?  Some recent studies demonstrate 18 year olds are having less promiscuous sex.  Why?  They have been saturated with sex to such a degree they now find it boring.  Addictions destroy the good for which the appetite was created.

Another voice competing for our attention is that of our emotions.  Living in New England has taught me to pay attention to emotions I never knew existed about New York.  I can attend a minor-league hockey game in New Hampshire and without provocation the crowd will break out into a spontaneous chant about the Yankees.  I once attended a Red Sox/Yankees game in Boston and saw a fan enter the stadium with a Yankees jersey.  When he left he wasn’t wearing the jersey, and two Red Sox fans left in police custody.  This is a minor example of the havoc that unchecked emotion can wreak.  The most dangerous situations for law-enforcement officials are domestic violence interventions.  On the international stage violence is too often the by-product of emotionally-based conflict, and so long as emotions are in control no amount of “reasoning” can persuade those involved to cease and desist.

We can live in the freest nation on earth, but if appetites or emotions rule our lives we are enslaved. The only way we can be free is if are educated in freedom, and possess the self-control to live accordingly.  A free society is composed of citizens who are educated in liberty and consider the short and long term implications of every decision on our lives and the lives of others.

Freedom is not the absence of restraint, but the exercise of judgment that considers what is best for the common good. Possessing a right is a moral obligation to do good with the freedom that comes with it.  Rights do not exist to allow us to do what we wish; rather they provide us the freedom to do what is good. The freedom of speech can only protect speech that serves the common good.  It cannot protect the freedom to tell lies, because lying undermines the mutual trust  on which a free society is based.  We can live freely with our fellow human beings when we can trust each other to do the right thing when no one is watching.  The more people use freedom for their own selfish ends, the less liberty a government can extend to its citizens.  Freedom exists when people can be trusted to use it for the common good.  Freedom is a moral category and not merely a procedural one.  A free national cannot exist apart of the goodness of its citizens.  As someone once said, “American is great because America is good.  If America ceases to be good, America will crease to be great.”

Mahatma Gandhi understood the moral basis of liberty in his list of the seven blunders of the world”

Wealth without work.


Pleasure without conscience.


Knowledge without character.


Commerce without morality

Science without humanity.


Worship without sacrifice.


Politics without principle.

These are the seven deadly sins against liberty.  No society can behave in this manner and be free.

If all I have said is true, we might ask how much longer we can continue to live in a free nation if the controlling understanding of liberty is merely the absence of restraint? Not long.  The good news is that we are in a position to do something about it, and we know what to do. The question is, what voice will be allowed to be our guide, and will we possess the courage and self-control to act accordingly?