Is Liberty Possible? asks the Honorable Charles Fried
The Honorable Charles Fried, former associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, held a lecture on Modern Liberty, and open discussion for several classes in philosophy and human rights on March 6, 2008.
“Active liberty, as discussed with Justice Breyer earlier this week, is an exercise of joint authority in making government,” said Fried. “Modern liberty is a different concept. It is liberty before you get to government–who are we, what are our claims?”
Drawing on the examples of four different legal cases, including the Charter of the French Language in Quebec, which states that business in Quebec must be carried out in French, Fried raised a series of provocative questions. “Is liberty even possible in a modern administered democratic state?”
“Liberty expresses who we are: thinking, judging and choosing individuals. Liberty is that individuality. Is that liberty possible?”
“If it is, so it is with speech, and expression. Yet we must somehow draw boundaries,” said Fried. “Who draws those boundaries, what we call law? The city, state, and federal government. We need government to provide the chance for people to exercise liberty. But do we give government power so people can exercise liberty or do we give government power so government controls that liberty?”
No responses yet
