Essay Introduction

In "Freedom from Want," Starr Daily offers a unique perspective on economic security from his position as a prison inmate. He observes that while the state provides for all his physical necessities—food, clothing, shelter, and medical care—thereby fulfilling the material ideals of socialist philosophy, this security does not lead to contentment or rehabilitation. Daily argues that relying on state-guaranteed security arrests personal growth and character development, turning individuals into institutionalized victims rather than free souls. He concludes that true peace and character are not built by yielding to worldly security, but often through the very struggles that security seeks to eliminate.

Freedom from Want

by Starr Daily

The author of the following statement was an inmate of a prison, assigned to work in the prison hospital. He attempted for a year to apply and interpret the Twenty-third Psalm in his everyday life. He recorded his thoughts in his private journal (Through Valleys to Victories, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1952). This is from his entry for February 6, 1928, under the text: "I shall not want."

SUPPLY for my creature needs and comforts is no problem in my life here in prison. Food for my body is of good quality and is plentiful. I wear a regulation white uniform, which is always clean and fresh. If I wish, I may change my clothing every day. I am well-sheltered. My room is fairly large and airy. It is somewhat cluttered with an accumulation of many personal things which seem to add to my enjoyment. Economically speaking, the state is doing a good job looking after my wants.

I have no bills of any kind to pay. The barber comes over three times a week to look after my beard and hair. My laundry goes out and comes back with automatic regularity. If I become ill, I’m assured of excellent medical attention. I am exempt from all forms of taxes, federal, state, local. I’m never called upon to contribute to worthy causes. I have no home and family responsibilities, worries, fears, anxieties. There are no civic or other obligations in my life.

It is the philosophic theory of Marx, Engels, and Dewey that economic security is the first and last law of life; that if you make the people economically secure, you will have solved their major problems. National and international peace, say these philosophers, depends upon making the people free from the fear of want, hunger, and lack—being the oldest and greatest fear in the world. They also hold economic insecurity as the primary cause of crime, and that economic security is the cure of crime.

I know how false this theory is. I have perfect creature security here in prison. But man shall not live by bread alone. Poverty is not the cause of crime, nor is prosperity the cure of crime. There are no typical paupers confined in this institution. If I depended upon my bodily securities to heal my criminal personality, it would not be healed. My peace and life-gladness are not governed by the amount of food I put into my stomach or the brand of raiment I drape over my frame. My airy room and good bed, in themselves, cannot give me a contented mind and a tranquil soul.

The reason is an obvious one, namely, that any mental contentment and tranquility of soul produced by worldly means alone puts an end to growth. Except for an active dissatisfaction, I should now be adapted to this prison environment, institutionalized, a helpless victim to state security. Such inmates we call stir bums. They are the adapted individuals. They are content, satisfied, arrested.

It is not yielding to world security that builds character, redeems personality, and releases soul. The reverse is true.

EDITOR’S NOTE: It may be said that the Welfare State is not comparable to prison life; that in the Welfare State, government only guarantees minimum needs to its subjects, but without the controls of a prison. Such a distinction is invalid both in fact and by judicial interpretation:

It is hardly lack of due process for the government to regulate that which it subsidizes.

UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111, p. 131, Oct., 1942

About the Author

Starr Daily was an inmate of a prison. While there, he attempted for a year to apply and interpret the Twenty-third Psalm in his everyday life. He recorded his thoughts in his private journal, Through Valleys to Victories (New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1952). "Freedom from Want" is from his entry for February 6, 1928, under the text: "I shall not want." It was published by the Foundation in 1953.

Attribution

Daily, Starr. "Freedom from Want." In Essays on Liberty, Vol. 2, 62-64. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc., 1954.