A Free Country? Really?

By Colin Bearup, a Brit serving in Chad

Much is made of our freedom by some political leaders. And who can blame them, for freedom always has such a positive ring about it. Who is going to renounce their liberty? Freedom must be good, worth defending and a worthy commodity to export. Many passionate speeches are made in its honor. So how free are you? Do you, for example, enjoy all the freedoms people enjoy in Chad?

Do you have the freedom to build a house in your backyard using whatever materials you fancy?
If you throw a big party, do you have the right to hang a sheep on your front gate, slaughter it yourself and leave the entrails in the street?
Do you have the right to arrange the marriages of your children?
Do you have liberty to smoke in public places?
If an important family member dies, could you just decide to close off the street to accommodate all the mourners for a three-day wake?
If your dog proves to be a nuisance, do you have the freedom to kill it?
Do you have the right to employ workers, paying them as little as they are willing to work for?
Could you wander the streets selling medication you know nothing about to whoever was willing buy it?
Could you set up in business as an electrician or gas fitter with zero training or experience?
Could you, on a whim, set up a barbecue in the street and sell cooked meat to passers-by?
Could you take four children to school all together on one motorbike without a single crash helmet among you?
Do you have the right to carry a sword, dagger or gun–unregistered and uncontrolled?
Do you have the freedom to preach the sacred duty of eliminating an accursed race, so long as they live abroad?

Okay, I know what you are thinking. These are mainly freedoms you are quite happy not to have (or at least you are glad your neighbors do not have them). I am not saying that any of these things are good or desirable. Instead, I am pointing out that they are freedoms, but not the kind we value much. You see, we are actually very heavily regulated and content to be so. It is the regulations we live under that make our country a pleasant and safe place to live, even though we may grumble about them sometimes. In other words, it is the absence of such freedoms that we enjoy.

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