Wendell Berry on Freedom
A person dependent on somebody else for everything from potatoes to opinions may declare that he is a free man, and his government may issue a certificate granting him his freedom, but he will not be free. He is that variety of specialist known as a consumer, which means that he is the abject dependent of producers. How can he be free if he can do nothing for himself? What is the First Amendment to him whose mouth is stuck to the tit of the “affluent society”? Men are free precisely to the extent that they are equal to their own needs. The most able are the most free.
–Wendell Berry, “Discipline and Hope” in A Continuous Harmony (1972), pp. 124
This entry was posted on Thursday, December 25th, 2008 at 2:29 pm and is filed under General, Agrarian, Wendell Berry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
December 26th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Well said. I love Wendell Berry for such depth of wisdom and clear thinking.
January 18th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
I absolutely love that quote! We have a lot more of that remarkable essay on our Wendell Berry page: http://www.whiteflintfarm.com/mrwendellberry.html