We are very lucky in this part of the world in our freedom. We often take this luck for granted because we lack an appreciation of the happenstance of history.
Our luck has little to do with cultural or racial superiority. It has everything to do with accidents of history that set different regions of the world on different paths of development. These paths have led to massive differences in prosperity, freedoms and stability. As author Nassim Taleb states, we have been "fooled by randomness."
Two recent events ram this home. The terrorist horrors in Paris and the suspension of Russia from the international athletics federation for widespread doping. We are fortunate to live in a country where the rule of law applies. Where there is a transparency that we often fail to appreciate. Where there are checks and balances between the political, judiciary and administrative arms of the government.
The media is tasked with providing an addition watchdog over these balances and our freedoms. There is a risk that commercial dictates are undermining this role of the media. Investigative journalism has become a casualty of commercial realities as traditional media struggles to survive.
We live in a country where religion has been relegated to the realm of personal choice rather than imposed doctrine. It is no longer a divisive cause of conflict.We live in a pluralist society where people are entitled to express differing views without the fear of imprisonment, persecution or death. But we live in an abnormal situation in human history. Sadly we often take it for granted. There is nothing natural or normal about the freedoms we currently enjoy.
History is best viewed as cause and effect rather than a vast jumble of famous names and dates. Our core national values of democracy, free enterprise, freedom of expression and religious belief and the rule of law are not the natural state of human history. They are products of long and bloody battles. They are accidents of history rather than the logical outcomes of an inevitable march of human progress.
We delude ourselves if we believe the immense freedoms we enjoy are a natural state. We also delude ourselves if we believe other people will automatically share our values. The Chinese have embraced their own version of free market capitalism.