1A(2) How to stay free

Hello everyone and welcome to my third installment of my design for life blog. I wonder if anyone (other than me) has read it yet.. or ever will...

I'm not feeling great today- yesterday i went out on the lash and my head feels rather woollen today, ugh. Guinness and Heineken. I hate alcohol (hindsightedly).

On with the blog, today's topic is How to Stay Free. If you'd followed yesterday's blog then by now you are well on your way to living out your 100 years life lease with all your faculties intact. Today, if you follow my advice, you will live out that lease with all your essential human freedoms intact.

The first thing you need to do is to decide where you would like to live out your life. Most presume they have to live their life wherever they happen to have been born, anchored by family, career and mortgage. This is the first preconception to shake off. We have a staggering amount of freedom to choose exactly where we want to live. Quit you job, bring your friends and family with you and rent out your house. It is very important to choose a country which guarantees your fundamental freedoms. Most countries in the West, for all their faults, do just that (which is why I love the West).

So what are those freedoms? Well there are 13 :

THE 13 FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS

1. The freedom of life. No-one has the right to take any other human life. So to ensure that this freedom stays intact try to live in a country which does not practise the death penalty.
2. The freedom to own property. This is part 4 in Huffbert's Design for Life so live in a nation where you can, if you wish, buy land.
3. The freedom to procreate with whoever you choose. Part 2 in my design for life. Don't live anywhere where someone is telling you that you can't do sex dances with any particular race etc... because your soulmate may come in any shape and you got to maximise your chances of capturing that elusive winged deity we call love.
4. The freedom of association (probably won't need this one)
5. The freedom of speech. In practise this is pretty hard to guarantee, we don't want the freedom to hate, but as long as you can safely criticise authority then "thumbs up".
6. Freedom of thought and religion. Live somewhere where you can practise any religion you choose (but as long as its a place where religion is kept the "hell out of" politics and education).
7. You should have the vote.
8. A free market. In case you want to start a business at some point.
9. Freedom of work. You choose the job, don't let it choose you.
10. Freedom of rest and leisure. When you want it.
11. Equal access. To education and jobs and opportunity. Very important. This is the main way that you are going to better your position in life. Don't live in country which keeps all the good stuff for the local elite.

In sum, you want to live in a meritocratic liberal democracy.

This report is a pretty good indicator:

http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=15&year=2006

"Woah! But hey Huffbert you said there were 13 freedoms- that's only 11!"

Yes i know i've left the most important 2 until last:

12. Equality before the law. It is so important that you live somewhere where if you do get into shit you are guaranteed a fair trial (not one based on your bank balance, connections or nationality.) I have lived in three countries in my life- and one of those had no equality before the law. If you were a foreigner in court forget it- you're going down. if you were a foreigner and up against a local - forget it but more so. If you were a foreigner and up a against a rich, connected local then oh mein shitting gott! Forget it. Yes justice is an important consideration when selecting where to live your life.

13. Freedom of movement. This is the freedom you are most likely to lose during your life. In most coutnries if you break the law you stand to lose your freedom of movement- we call them prisons.

Very simply, don't break the law.

If you have a selected a country to live in which has a reasonable set of laws then you shouldn't want to break the law anyway. If you don't break the law you won't lose this important freedom.

If you are stuck in a country with unjust laws, then for the time being it is better to be free and not true to your ethics, than right and in prison. Bite your tongue until you get to an enlightened country then you can join Amnesty International or something and make a difference. There's no room for martyrs in Huffbert's Design.

As a working person we don't really have the freedom of movement anyway. If you are compelled to be in a office 9 hours a day 5 days a week then no, you don't have freedom of movement. That will be solved in part 4 Becoming financially independent. You may still want to work, but you won't need to.

Ok well that's it for now. As always lets compress and distill this content into a homeopathic self-help essence drop goal:

GOAL 1A2 Live your life in a land where your basic freedoms are guaranteed. Don't break the law. Thus you will stay free for your 100 lease of life.

Well that's all folks, join me again next time when the topic will be Staying Healthy.. ooh my hangover seems to have dispersed!

tata

Huffbert xxx

ps As always I'm sorry if I have offended anybody. And also sorry if I have made any mistakes in grammar or spelling. As mentioned this blog is open to everybody (all ages and sexual persuasions, both sexes and all three races, all members of the 192 UN nations, all members of the 205 FIFA nations). If you wish to contact me with thoughts, comments and destructive criticism please do so at huffbert@gmail.com