What is the relationship between political power and human liberty? | UFM Talks

Isabel Cacacho  | 09 de noviembre de 2021  | Vistas: 19

When the Berlin wall was torn down, there was an exciting feeling of freedom and became one of the greatest examples of Human liberty rising over power in history.  Throughout many examples of oppression and liberations, they raise the question of the possibility of freedom to flourish over power and wonder which is the best political system for liberty. This and many other questions are answered during this conference by Cristopher Lingle, PhD in Economics, while he shares the kinds of power that exists and how they affect society and human liberty itself.

“Power tends to corrupt & absolute power corrupts absolutely.”-  Lord Action.

We need to be worried about power, is the first statement he shares to explain the necessity to understand the nature of power, for it has the ability to compel people to do things whether they like it or not. Cristopher focuses specifically on explaining two types of power: Economic and Political. To understand this concepts, the term of governance becomes an important term since it affects human action. 

Political Power rises from the ability of its actors to use force and even violence against  individuals, and escaping from it is really hard due to a series of legislations that are meant to be permanent and only expand without limitation or means to weaken it. You would need to immigrate or raise riots to confront it.  In order to live a free life and be productive for your purpose, you need to be aware that political order is your greatest threat.

“When we give the state more power, we dehumanize, we become objects, rather than following our destiny.”- Cristopher Lingle

On the other hand, economic power comes from cooperative behavior, and voluntary interaction between buyers and sellers. It is temporary depending on the demand, interest and need of what they sell, and their capacity to remain on top of the market, hence it can be weakened and it is easier to escape. It allows individuals to choose on the services they want and who to e it with, acquire it with whomever they desire and it impulses healthy competition. Through the market order, trust among individuals is encouraged and it can be used by individuals to improve their life as they will. 

People have the natural right to be free from others domination. As long as they don't interfere with other individual's rights and liberty, they also have the right to make their own paths to fulfilling their purposes through their choices. So taking this in consideration, how is it so hard to find countries using a liberal system? Cristopher explains that liberalism has the tendency to fail due to a lack of understanding willingness to search for the right guidance on how power works on behalf of the govermernments, and once they obtain political power, they don't let go of it, and allow it to expand, instead of extending human liberty, disregarding the point of liberalism completely. This is why, Political order and power is so problematic and dangerous. 

“Human liberty allows us to discover what we want to accomplish in our lives, and by doing so, it creates prosperity that tends to be shared with everyone.”- Cristopher Lingle 

Join Cristopher in this amazing conversation to learn more about the power of human liberty to bring purpose to our lives and how it can be protected from political power. Learn to resist when political actors tell us to give up our freedom for their own interest, and earn self governance to guide our lives as we have the  right to do so.