The Three Freedoms

No one has any inherent authority over anyone else, so no one is justified in initiating force against anyone else. We are free, only limited by the freedom of others.

We are free to choose whatever way of life we want as long as we don't use force on others. We are free to associate or not associate with others as long as these associations are voluntary. We are free to access the natural resources we need as long as we don't prevent others, including future generations, from accessing the resources they need.

That is, we each have three basic freedoms, personal freedom, social freedom, and natural freedom.

Expressed in terms of ownership, we each own our own person, life, and work, and we own what we acquire through voluntary exchanges with others, but no one owns nature, or alternatively, we all have equal ownership of nature.

This seems like a reasonable theoretical starting place, but there is already a lot of history behind us that strongly influences any practical starting place. We have to find a transition that takes this into account and does not make matters worse.

One compromise would be to respect current patterns of ownership while at the same time taxing the use of natural resources beyond subsistence use and using these funds to pay a basic income to each person. This compromise would be administered by an association dedicated to protecting our freedoms and managing our common natural heritage.

Such an association would not require members to agree on any particular comprehensive doctrine. A pluralism of comprehensive doctrines can work as long as there is an overlap that respects the personal, social, and natural freedom of others and allows for pragmatic problem solving within a minimally common region of language, experience, and desire.

But even this level of compromise will likely be a long time coming, so in the mean time it would be good to support policies that protect and expand freedom, that protect natural resources and move toward taxing their use, and that provide parts of a basic income to each person, such as health care, education, and a basic economic safety net.