The First Freedom of Information Success
Over two hundred pages long, the book is written in some Nordic language — don’t ask me which. Only at the end is there a short summary section in English . . . and all that really does is whet my appetite for a translation of the whole thing.
You see, the book is about a Finnish reformer who argued for free markets prior to Adam Smith, for freedom of speech and religion prior to the American revolution, and he helped draft the first open-records law in Europe.
Yes, Anders Chydenius wrote the first Freedom of Information Act . . . more than 240 years ago.
Reading the summaries, it is obvious that many of today’s Scandinavians have trouble with the expansive notion of freedom that Chydenius wished to share. Even so, they remain proud of his pioneering work establishing freedom of the press north of Europe.
Elsewhere on the website where I found this book, one author speculates that this lover of limited government would have been saddened by the ways that many groups in the West today kowtow to Chin’s bullying press policies. Why? Well, it turns out that Chydenius himself learned of free speech from China, from the information policy of Tang dynasty emperor Taizong.
Freedom has a long history. Forgotten figures are worth researching, for they remind us that freedom is a perennial philosophy. Each age has to discover liberty anew.
We wouldn’t want freedom to seem “œoutdated.”
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
