60 years ago, John F. Kennedy gave one of his most famous speeches:
We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will server to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because the challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others too…
Kennedy had freely admitted that he wasn’t particularly interested in space. But he wanted to define what people in a democracy do.
Free people don’t do things just because an autocrat orders it (like building pyramids or waging war).
Free people do things because they commit to collective action. Together we decide our priorities; we discuss; we debate; we research; we organize; we plan; and then we do things–sometimes hard things. We do these things because we realize that it is in our collective interests to do them.
Free people can do very hard things–eliminate poverty; provide sustainable, clean, public transit; provide universal housing and healthcare; restore the environment; take care of the aged; feed the poor; leave no child behind; and so much more.
Freedom does not give us the right to plot our own selfish desires; it gives us the drive to strive for our common good.
Inspired by Andrew Potter’s On Decline. 2021. Windsor, ON: Bilioasis.p. 38ff.)
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