The Meaning of Freedom.

What does freedom mean to you?
-WordPress prompt

Hello Dazzle! Thanks for coming and hanging out with me today, I’m glad that you are here. Today I want to talk about freedom. I have lived all my life in a country that claims to be the land of the free, yet I have never known a sense of personal freedom. Today, I want to talk about what freedom is and why I don’t feel that America is free.

Freedom is knowing that your needs will be met. That there will be no conditions or questions. That you are simply deemed human and thus worthy which results in your needs being met all of the time. In psychology, we have clearly defined what the basic human needs are and have classified them into a structured pyramid that we call Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. But it is only the two bottom tiers of this Hierarchy that I feel are included here. These are considered the basic needs; those needs that must be met in order for a human to survive and be healthy. The remainder of the upper part of the pyramid is required for a person to thrive.

The bottom tier is all the physiological needs to continue to stay alive such as having air, food, water, warmth, shelter and medical care. The second tier is the need for safety which means that a person knows that they are physically safe from harm. These together are considered the basic human needs. These together are the things that a person needs in order to believe that they will remain a living person from day to day. When these things are in question, living also comes into question.

Thus, freedom is knowing that your society will allow you to survive.

Unfortunately, America is not a place that ensures that its people will survive let alone thrive. What gender you are, what race you are, what your sexuality is and, of course, how much money you have are all factors that decide if you are worthy of having your needs met. For most people living in America, this means that their needs will not be met.

“In December of 2022, HUD (Housing and Urban Development) calculated that 582,462 people were experiencing homelessness in the United States and its territories. That number represented an increase of nearly 2,000 individuals over the last complete accounting of 2020, yet remained steady at 0.18 percent of the nation’s population.” [1] [2] Which is about the same rate as other countries; all reported values being below 1% of the population. [3] However, the real challenge here is that the way that homelessness is defined is not the same between different countries and this factor makes comparing that data less clear. But with the data that we have, it appears that America is about on par with the world in context of homelessness.

What is most interesting about the American homelessness data isn’t the percentage of the population, but rather who is within the homeless population. “Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders are 1.8% of the homeless population despite being just 0.26% of the US population.” [4] “Twenty-four percent of all homeless people identify as Hispanic. This is higher than the national proportion of the Hispanic population: 19%.” [4] Meaning that those who are not white are much more likely to be homeless then those who are white. The race you are born grants you a degree of housing security in America.

There is research to suggest that race and wealth have a direct impact on access to clean water. Evaluations of safe drinking water act (SDWA) violations at the county-level between 2016 and 2018 reflected that those counties with higher ratios of racial minorities and those in poverty were more likely to have SDWA violations. [14] This means that if you are poor or of a minority you are more likely to also be living in an area that has contaminated public water.

About 12% of Americans are living in poverty. [5] However, that percentage doesn’t remain the same when we look at who is in poverty. Because what race you are born matters: 24% of American Indian and Alaska Natives, 20% of Blacks, 17% of Hispanics, and 8.1% of whites. [5] “The United States has one of the highest rates of child poverty among high-income countries.” [6]”Over 10 million American children —1 in 7— were living in poverty in 2019, as measured by the official U.S. poverty level. The proportion is even higher for children younger than 6 and for Black, Latino, and American Indian children.” [7] And to be clear, when you are poor in America your needs are not getting met.

The sad fact of the matter is that those struggling to have the money to meet their needs is not just limited to those who are considered to be living below the poverty line. The United For ALICE project found that 29% of Americans in 2021 were ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), in households that earned above the federal poverty line but not enough to afford the basics in the communities where they live. They also found that when you combine this group with those who are below the federal poverty line: that 41% of Americans cannot afford their basic needs. [8]

Medical care is definitely not a need that is guaranteed to be met in America. Health insurance costs an average of $539 per month to cover a single person in their 40s. “Virginia has the lowest average monthly premium of $390, and West Virginia has the highest at $864.” [9] Unfortunately, it doesn’t end there. “In 2021, the average U.S employee paid $1,669 out-of-pocket before hitting their deductible.” [10] Which results in “41% of U.S. adults [having] some form of medical or dental debt.” [10] [11]

All of that is just how Americans are not getting that first tier of physiological needs met. The reason that this is considered the foundational tier is because these are considered the most important and fundamental human needs. Without this first tier being met, a person cannot be ensured their survival. How can we consider there to be freedom when a person does not have their survival secured?

Freedom is defined as:

the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.

absence of subjection to foreign domination or despotic government.

the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved.

-Oxford Dictionary

How much freedom can a person claim to have when their foundational needs are not being met? A person who is struggling to have their needs met on a daily basis cannot act without hindrance or restraint. Everything they do, every single day has the singular focus of survival. Our brains are not able to ascend to other levels of focus until we are sure that are basic needs are going to be met. As Maslow himself stated “It is quite true that man lives by bread alone — when there is no bread.” Meaning that when we are hungry we are not able to think of anything beyond being hungry.

Additionally, those who are struggling to survive are in a position of vulnerability that makes them much more likely to be the victim of a crime. Those who are living below the federal poverty line are about twice as likely to be the victim of a crime as compared to those who live above that line. [15] They are also less likely to be able to pursue justice due to the lack of resources and the fact that surviving demands all of their focus.

Being in a state of vulnerability also means that you are more at risk for being abused or oppressed by your government. When you are struggling to survive it is much more difficult to oppose those who are creating laws that would put you at risk. This means that 41% of the population is currently in a position to find it difficult to fight for their basic human rights because they are too busy fighting to stay alive. You cannot attend government meetings or spend time advocating for your rights when you are struggling just to meet your basic needs.

If you think I’m the only person that believes that America isn’t actually a free country, consider that the World Population Review doesn’t even rank America in the top 10 when looking at the countries that offer their people the most freedom. [16] In case you think this opinion might be biased, it’s worth mentioning that this organization based its ranking off the research and data collected by The Cato Institute in Washington D.C. and the Fraser Institute in Vancouver, Canada who co-published the annual Human Freedom Index Report for 2021. [17]

Well, that’s about it for my rambling today. Thanks for coming and spending some time with me. If you like what you read, click on that like button. It really does help! Until we talk again, you take care of yourselves!

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