The Psychology of Liberty
There are many different models of positive mental health, but during my years as a mental health researcher, evidence-based models normally advocated for four key elements that played a vital role in mental health. They all start with A – autonomy, acceptance, accomplishment, and altruism.
Autonomy – an individual has to feel as though they have a degree of freedom in their lives in order to take ownership over it and make healthy choices.
Acceptance – individuals have a need to feel ratified by their peers.
Accomplishment – individuals have a need to feel as though they can achieve most of the goals they set for themselves.
Altruism – self-interest is a vital component to libertarian ideals – but to the exclusion of all else it is harmful. Individuals need to have a sense of charity or giving back to their community.
If it fails to impress the reader to reflect on the assets then let us turn to the liabilities.
If these four elements are negated, then an individual will not be well off mentally. An individual who feels trapped, rejected, like a failure, or is unconcerned with the well-being of others, isn’t likely to make positive life choices.
You can apply these traits to nearly any aspect of life.
Employees who feel trapped, rejected, like failures, and who aren’t having a positive impact in the world around are far less productive, with higher absentee days, and higher turnover rates than employees who don’t have that mentality.
At-risk youth who feel overly structured, alone, are underachievers, and selfish, will engage in unhealthy and sometimes violent behavior. We weren’t created nor have we evolved to live in bondage.
Libertarian philosophy is liberating. We preach autonomy from an ethical perspective, but the elegance of our universe is such that this is also the healthiest way to live our lives. We preach against the welfare state not because of callousness, but because living in the absence of productive accomplishment is no way to live one’s life. We preach charity and taking care of others not out of some vain virtue signaling exercise, but because it’s healthy and liberating to work for things greater than ourselves.
The convergence
When 40% of the GDP goes to the government, then five months out of the year we are working for goals that are not our own. In terms of the salary we receive, we can negotiate the numbers that appear on our paycheck, but the actual purchasing power is determined by our central banks – the value of the dollar is their domain.
The value of our seniors’ savings is likewise determined not by their work effort, but by our government.
We in the West have increasingly little say on mandatory federal pensions, the number of our contributions is determined by government command and the amount we receive in return is determined by government command. It’s not healthy to have so little control over our lives. It’s not healthy to have so little ownership over ourselves.
Economics, philosophy, politics, and psychology all converge to advise us that liberty is a goal to be sought after. The work done in multiple fields provides independent corroboration for freedom being a key component to wellness.
Economics tells us freedom produces prosperity instead of poverty.
Philosophy tells us that freedom is ethical and extortion isn’t.
Politics tells us that freedom produces stability and creates peace.
Psychology tells us that freedom is necessary for positive mental health.
This independently arrived at truth refuses to stop signaling that freedom is everything.
Brandon Kirby
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