In all governments, there is a perpetual intestine struggle, open or secret, between AUTHORITY and LIBERTY; and neither of them can ever absolutely prevail in the contest. A great sacrifice of liberty must necessarily be made in every government; yet even the authority, which confines liberty, can never, and perhaps ought never, in any constitution, to become quite entire and uncontroulable…
In this sense, it must be owned, that liberty is the perfection of civil society; but still authority must be acknowledged essential to its very existence: and in those contests, which so often take place between the one
and the other, the latter may, on that account, challenge the preference.
This is David Hume in Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary on Origins on Government.
This quote from David Hume came to mind, as I ran across the news of a price freeze in Zimbabwe.
Following the new currency initiative, Dr Gono has been threatened by those opposed to the plan, the government-owned Daily Herald reported.
“Let me warn those that want to derail our economic recovery programme that they will be arrested,” minister of state for national security Didymus Mutasa told the newspaper.
The scales are pulling heavily in favor of authority, not liberty in Zimbabwe, where the government continues to be “quite entire and uncontroulable” in its handling of the country’s economic crisis as well as political ones, such as widespread corruption. What would it take to tip the scales back in favor of liberty? Did anyone say stronger civil society?
However, USAID, in its budget note for this year noted that:
As civil society has increasingly pushed for greater democracy and more participation in decision-making processes, the Government of Zimbabwe (GOZ) has responded by tightening restrictions on the independent media and journalists and proposing legislation that would restrict the operation of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), including a prohibition on foreign funding for NGOs engaged in human rights and/or governance work.
It seems that more effort should be made to support civil society’s work on expanding economic opportunities, since the economic crisis is now the defining feature of Zimbabwe.
Oh, and apparently the country is for sale.
Published Date: August 07, 2006