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Freedom of association is under attack.
There are a number of ways in which Western governments are waging war against their citizens. The United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and leftists in the United States do not believe in free speech. These Western governments also spy on their citizens without warrants or probable cause. They have transformed their court systems into ideologically-partisan dictatorships that impose rulings based upon feelings and “political correctness,” rather than black-letter law and self-restraint. An offense that often gets overlooked, however, is Western governments’ infringement of citizens’ freedom of association.
Freedom of association is our natural, God-given right to meet with likeminded people, discuss ideas, express ourselves, and promote our mutual interests. As with freedom of speech, it is fundamental to any notion of liberty. Respect for freedom of association is the bedrock for religious freedom, freedom of conscience, communal identity, and national self-determination.
Countries are born when people of common ancestry, language, history, and customs choose to work together and defend their way of life. Towns spring up when likeminded people settle and develop a region together. Religious congregations grow through common worship. Schools, skilled trade unions, clubs, sports leagues, and civic organizations of all types are formed when people come together to pursue similar interests and advance shared ideas.
At its heart, freedom of association respects human beings’ natural inclination to cooperate with others to build something together that would not be possible for any one person to build alone. As a voluntary commitment to pursue a group’s common aims, it is the collective expression of each individual’s personal liberty.
As with all God-given rights and liberties, government power (or State authority) is the greatest threat to freedom of association. When governments prevent people from discussing ideas, worshiping together, working together, or pursuing common interests, the State is using its monopoly on the lawful use of force to infringe citizens’ inalienable rights.
What we see across the West is the bureaucratic State imposing its political will in defiance of the collective will of citizens.
Perhaps the most glaring problem of the last several decades has been Western governments’ refusal to secure their national borders. There is no more natural political association than a nation state’s citizenry. Over centuries and millennia, tribes of similar peoples came together to protect their lands and resources from foreign invasion, while promoting domestic order, safety, and peace.
The rule of law traces its origin to common customs, personal duties, social obligations, religious convictions, and beliefs. Both political philosophers and ordinary people with common sense tend to define a government’s foremost obligations to include two complementary tasks: (1) to secure territory from invasion and (2) to promote the common law. Governments that successfully perform these duties advance their citizens’ natural freedoms, general welfare, and domestic peace.
By opening up their borders and inviting millions of foreigners to take over parts of their nations, Western governments have undermined their own citizens’ self-determination. They have directly attacked citizens’ freedom of association in the context of forming nation states. These governments have effectively destroyed the natural associations formed by generations of Westerners over many centuries. Because respect for the rule of law originates with common customs and beliefs, the introduction of foreign populations (who have no interest in assimilating) immediately erodes domestic safety and peace. Western governments betray their citizens twice: First, they fail to secure their territories from invasion. Second, they make domestic tranquility an impossibility.