Freedom and Justice

So I started a blog called geonomics to express thoughts on a few topics that are important to me: freedom and justice. The intersection of these concepts can be reached economically through geonomics.

What do I mean by Freedom?
The term freedom seems to change definition with a person's perspective on the world. I am no different. My definition is largely the same as that of libertarians: a lack of unwarranted coercion.

Like libertarians, I believe in the right of self-ownership. This is the base right from which property rights and civil rights logically flow. The initiation of force against the rights to self-ownership (and any logically derived rights) is unwarranted and, from the perspective of freedom maximization, bad. All other actions are either neutral or good from said perspective.

What do I mean by Justice?
Justice tends to be ill-defined by libertarians: they are focused almost exclusively on maximizing freedom. All three dictionary definitions tie into geonomics:

1. the maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments
2. the quality of being just, impartial, or fair
3. conformity to truth, fact, or reason : correctness

At the most basic level, I'd say my definition of justice is equality of natural opportunity.

The Connection
Freedom and justice are fundamentally tied. Libertarians believe, citing the many roadblocks to justice presented by government, that an increase in freedom will lead to an increase in the equality of opportunities and realization of meritocracy.

Freedom and equality of opportunity are both important.
Image courtesy of Carl Mistead http://www.holisticpolitics.org

Geonomics attempts to maximize both concepts, which requires understanding how they are tied together: justice is found in freedom through warranted interactions.

The problem with most current libertarian models of this interaction is they often neglect the core premise they espouse by ignoring the conflicting rights. I will show in a future post that, if we believe in "natural" rights, then legitimate conflicts do exist and cannot be dismissed out of hand or with the logical fallicies currently used.

What Does an Economic System (Geonomics) Have to Do with Freedom and Justice?
Ignoring all the fancy mathematics and confusing terms commonly found in the realm of economics, it is simply a decision science.

Cost, opportunity cost, value, and the like are all centered around participants interacting with one another. Freedom maximizes warranted interactions and promotes justice. Recognizing and addressing conflicting rights brings justice the rest of the way.