Based on my limited experience, many people, from all over, and especially from the US, think that the US is the “freest” country in the world. In certain ways this may be true, but I certainly feel “freer” here.
Although different examples come to mind, for simplicity’s sake, I will use traffic regulation: It is not unheard of that American police officers, only “warn” certain individuals, and “cite” others for the same offense. However, I have yet to hear of anybody offering a bribe to an officer for driving offenses. As a contrast, from what I hear (thankfully not experienced), this is a “standard” way of life here. I have been told that it generally costs 50 pin (50,000 Kwacha, at the current exchange rate, a little over $10) to get out of a citation. Keep in mind that 50 pin is quite a bit of money for most of the population, especially if one person were to receive 50 pin from several people on a daily basis. The key is that the same amount of money is worth a lot more to one party than it does to another.
In a similar way, traffic light and speeding cameras are quite common in the States, although different States have different laws in that respect. Here, these cameras don’t exist. Therefore, it is not unusual for people to run red lights, and much less to stop for stop signs.
As a result, yes, I am “freer” here, because I feel that I can do anything I want to, and if I have trouble I can either pay my way out of it, or see if I know people who know people. The obvious concern, however, is that this same “freedom” can lead to plenty of accidents and cause hardship not only for the person causing the accident, but (mainly) for the victims and their loved ones.
Also, the freedom that I experience here, the majority of locals cannot enjoy. Not many people can pay 50 pin on a regular basis in order to be able to drive the way they want to. As a result, it is not only not right to be “free”, but it’s also not “fair”.
In order for “fairness” to exist, a big effort has to be made to support the desired behavior through proper systems, and then, more importantly, the system has to be properly enforced, in a way that no one individual can bypass it.
In conclusion, do I feel “freer” here, than anywhere else I have lived? Yes. Is that a good thing? No! That is because laws and regulations are needed and should be applied to everyone equally in order for a society to flourish. For example, I strongly believe that in the US anyone with a good idea can start a business and become tremendously successful. One significant reason for that is the existence of plenty of laws and regulations with respect to fairness; Businesses are controlled in different ways: from their size (antitrust) to “basic rights” of employees (anti discrimination policies or minimum wage for example). Further, corruption of the system is a minor concern (at least at the lower level that I see on a day to day basis).
The main purpose of this post is to emphasize what we already know. Too much of anything is not good, including too much freedom. The key in life remains moderation in everything!
I noticed that I haven’t shared any pictures lately, so here are a few. Please note that they are unrelated to the post above. Enjoy!
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