travel

I think freedom of movement is perhaps the most undervalued right a person can have, I am not talking about simply not being incarcerated, though that is pretty good too obviously, nor am I talking strictly about the freedom to go on vacation, though that is part of it. The ability of a person to travel is perhaps the most valuable weapon we have in the fight against governmental or corporate overreach. If one location is becoming untenable, perhaps the local major employer is growing abusive, perhaps the governor has signed an anti-trans "bathroom bill", or even perhaps you have family you simply must get away from, you can travel to someplace that doesn't have those problems.

For a fairly good chunk of our history as city builders the average person didn't travel too far, there were a number of obstacles preventing this depending on what era of history you are in, but a major one is the landowners didn't want them to, because the landowners knew that if their peasants could go somewhere else then they might just do so and find something better to do. Travel was expensive and difficult, and you didn't have a guarantee that you would find a better life wherever you went, so many people did not, this of course didn't stop colonization efforts, when the elite need a workforce they make it desirable, but that wasn't really freedom to travel either.

Today the average person has a vehicle that can take them across the entire country in a week or two, if you are willing to jump through some hoops and spend some money you could be anywhere in the world within 24 hours, and thanks to the internet, you can have an idea of what to expect when you get there, in many cases even line up housing or a job before you ever step foot in your new area, it is amazing, liberating, and not nearly good enough.

The elites need more subtle methods of economic coercion, usually anyway, to prevent people from traveling in ways they don't want, but with control of the transportation industry being in their hands certainly helps, so airplane tickets cost a lot, rent goes up everywhere, and gas prices vary wildly depending on the income of the neighborhood the pump services. Travel is considered a luxury now, and if we think of it as a luxury, something only for special occasions or for the rich to use regularly, we don't get mad when it becomes harder, we are willing to jump through many more hoops to travel once a year, if that, than if we had to do it every day. So we are encouraged to stay in our geographic area and be a reliable resource for the entities that control it.

In political circles the idea of freedom of travel for those at the bottom is terrifying, every time the right loses an election they go on about how busloads of liberals were shipped in across state lines to vote or some shit, it's never true, not in that way, but migration as a way to balance political power surely doesn't seem like the worst idea honestly, so what if the next Roy Moore is beaten because a few thousand people moved to his district, registered as voters, and told him they do not wish him as their representative? That seems fair to me, true freedom of movement could break up gerrymandered districts and actually force politicians to pay attention to their constituents

Extend the scale and you get to open borders, another position I support, despite everything people still really want to come to America, and I do not see a good reason not to let them, who cares if they don't speak English? They will soon enough, or we will all learn their language, who gives a crap if they form their own neighborhoods and bring their culture with them? Have you seen the size of our country? There is room for them, whoever they are. If they pay their taxes and don't make any more trouble than anyone else then they should be welcome here, and vise versa of course. Countries don't deserve your loyalty simply because you were born there, they should earn it or face the consequence of literally losing their population. Hell the right should love this idea, I mean it is just people voting with their dollars without governmental interference, what's not to love?

I mean the answer is brown people, that was a rhetorical question, also the right are fascists and fascists hate it when people get to do things, basically anything.

That's all macro stuff of course, on the micro level being able to travel more freely makes you able to find and keep a job easier, seek out better medical care, and reach necessities like shopping more flexibly, all great things to improve quality of life.

I don't know if I have a major point here, but it's worth keeping an eye out for efforts to restrict travel, as well as to improve your own ability to do it, learn to drive(I'll help!), buy a bus pass, get a passport, even if you can't go anywhere now, the option is a powerful one.