The freedom to cast a secret ballot in a fair election is one of the most cherished rights of free people everywhere. It allows the people to influence the acts of their government and hopefully increases the chances that the government will act in the best interests of a majority of its constituents. But it turns out the freedom to vote at the ballot box is not the only requirement for a society to be considered to be free.
To have real freedom people must also be able to vote with their money. Choosing where to spend money is a way of continuously voting for some products and services and against others. Every time a person chooses to buy celery instead of peanuts she is voting for all of the people in the celery production chain and against the people involved in peanuts. The marketplace is a huge and at its best a very democratic institution. In a free market economy buyers can direct their money towards products and services that give them the most satisfaction. In the 20th century we experimented with controlled economies but without the freedom of what can be called “dollar democracy” they became horribly inefficient and collapsed.
There are however two other requirements for real freedom. First we need the freedom to use our time as we choose. We should be able to watch what we want to on television or not watch at all. We should be able to work for whoever we want to and to hire whoever we want to work for us. This freedom encompasses free association and free speech. Finally we must be free to move away from tyranny and toward freedom. This new freedom, The Right to Migrate, gives oppressed people a power over their governments that they did not previously have. In the United States we recognize this freedom between states but not yet at our borders.
In conclusion there are four types of votes necessary for people to be free. To be truly free people must be able to vote with their ballots, their dollars, their time and their feet.
For more information on the Right to Migrate visit radicalmigration.com