Ultimate Freedoms

Forbes, Steve. "The Moral Basis of a Free Society." Policy Review.86 (1997): 20. ProQuest. Web. 22 Nov. 2011.

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In his publication “The Moral Basis of a Free Society,” Steve Forbes explains how America is the leader in the world and how other countries look up to us. His main focus is the freedom Americans have; other countries want our freedom, but their government is not the same. In the publication, he gives some examples of countries with complete government control and how they differ from us. For example, “When the government of China tells people they can read state-run newspapers but not print and distribute Bibles, imprisoning and torturing dissenters; or have one child but not two, forcing women to have abortions; or watch state-run television but not listen to Radio Free Asia, jamming broadcast signals and threatening students-that is not freedom.” He also says, “But the absence of centralized state control is not necessarily freedom, either. The people of Beirut are not free. Neither are the people of Medellin and Cartagena, the drug capitals of Colombia. Freedom is not anarchy, chaos, and mayhem. The freedom to "let soulless forces operate," as the great classical liberal economist Ludwig von Mises termed it, is actually tyranny in another guise.”

Steve Forbes’s publication should be read because it explains to everyone that there are good and bad sides to everything, even if they look perfect. He says while discussing the negative side of America, “While others look to us, however, Americans themselves are seeking answers to some painful and bitter questions. Can a free society survive the collapse of the two-parent family, where one-third of children are born into homes without fathers? Can a free society long endure a culture in which newborn babies have been thrown into trash dumpsters and young people have doubled their rate of heroin use in a single year?” Steve is un-biased when writing and his publication can make people see why the government needs to change itself for the better because others are looking up to America like an older brother. Is the American government always right? No and that is why this should be thought over because he isn’t taking one side, he can have an opinion of his own, but he tells it like it is.