By Sophia Lobeinika, United States
Image: People's Dispatch
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are unalienable rights granted to all by the very creator. In addition to civil liberties and individual rights, political freedom is considered a natural right endowed on basic humans; it gives civilians the freedom to practice their political beliefs. However, this innate privilege is dismissed to many of those in developing countries; therefore, it is inevitable to deny the correlation between political freedom and economic prosperity.
Democracy is under siege as there is a decline in global freedom on account of the lethal pandemic, economic insecurity, and rebellious disputes. The intercontinental epidemic has led to greater restrictions for people. Mask usage has become a political controversy with the growing vocal support of mask mandates from Democratic leaders. The Biden administration advocates mask mandates and vaccines with economic incentives. However, there are numerous Republican politicians with clashing views. Republican Governor De Santis rejected lock-downs and mandates, even as Florida set the record for highest coronavirus hospitalization. Marjorie Taylor Greene is another Republican that has publicly voiced her dismissal of mask usage. She was blocked from social media sites for spreading false, inaccurate information to degrade the vaccine’s effectiveness. She went so far as to accuse Anthony Fauci of funding the virus. Texas Governor Abbott spent weeks dropping local mask requirements and dropped the mask mandate ban only after his diagnosis of the virus. He has banned local schools from social distancing, despite the school officials’ concern for the virus contagion. The people are enclosed to follow the frames of the governor’s political beliefs and protocols, which shows how radical political parties disrupt people’s political freedom.
One of the four main “poverty traps” that Paul Collier identified is “bad governance.” In common sense, a nation that respects property rights, contracts, and punishes deprivations are bound to hold flourishing business enterprises.
Sri Aurobindo said that political freedom is the life breath of a nation.
"Political freedom is the life-breath of a nation; to attempt social reform, educational reform, industrial expansion, the moral improvement of the race without aiming first and foremost at political freedom, is the very height of ignorance and futility.”
Following his words, we must ensure that the state upholds due political freedom for all.
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