Essay from the year 2024 in the subject Politics - Political Theory and the History of Ideas Journal, , language: English, abstract: The fundamental existential choice we have to make is between liberty, individual freedom, or slavery, which logically is the polar opposite. That is either we are allowed to make our owned decisions or they are made for us by others, namely the State. To be fully human, all of us must be free to exercise our choices and govern our lives, so long as we permit the same of others. Liberty follows from human nature: We are unique individuals, not an amorphous blob or an army of robots to be programmed by those with power. Liberty works. Over and over again, it produces a degree of interpersonal cooperation, innovation, and wealth creation that allows human beings to flourish - nothing else even comes close. Liberty is the only social, political, or economic arrangement that requires that we live to high standards of conduct and character and rewards us when we do so. This is a crucial difference between liberty and the soul-crushing, paternalistic snares that are offered as alternatives. Life without liberty is unthinkable. Who wants to live at the end of another's leash, fearing at every turn what those armed with force and power might do to us, even if they have good intentions?