Freedom, Governance & Children

I assert that it is ultimately impossible for one person to know what is best for another because fundamentally they have their own separate and distinct lives. So, one's own wisdom gained over the years may not necessarily be applicable to another's life. Furthermore, the experience of making mistakes for oneself and learning from them is an invaluable tool for growth. That is the fundamental principle behind choosing Democracy as a principle of governance.

Instead of allowing self-appointed leaders to dictate societies, even if they are wise, well educated, and trained for the position, the population at large is allowed to make choices and mistakes that it may learn from. Even if the people do not make perfect or "correct" decisions, compared to a leader who "knows what's best" for society, in the end they will grow through the iterative learning process. Eventually, they will arrive at a better understanding of what is right for themselves. This is because they will have tangible, personal examples of good and bad decisions as well as outcomes from which to compare. So then, someone who always makes the "right" decision, especially if told to them by someone else, will never have a true understanding of their life or the world compared to someone who has had the freedom to make mistakes. Therefore, people must have the freedom to succeed as well as to fail; otherwise, their lessons will not truly be learned.

This may seem to be a trite and obvious conclusion when discussing the rights of adults in the context of society and government. So why, then, do we limit the domain of this thinking just to adults? Why do we stop short in our evaluation of what freedoms children deserve in their own lives? The typical response is: "Because we know what's best for them" or "They don't know what's best for themselves." Granted, they may not know what's best for themselves at any given moment, but it is erroneous for adults to assume that they do know what is best for any child. I am not claiming that I am somehow different from the rest of the adults and do know what's best for any particular child, but I do claim that the only person who has even a chance of knowing that is the child himself. Now, you may balk at that last sentence and think, "Ridiculous! So, you're telling me that a 2 year-old knows what's best for himself?!?!" No, I am not. What I am saying though is that they should be allowed to learn what is best for themselves over the course of time, and that should not begin after some arbitrary age. Of course, the younger children are, the more suceptible they are to mortal peril, due to their ignorance of the world, so there does need to exist some level of protection from irreversible trauma. However, I believe that should be the extent of guardianship adults have over children.