It’s a simple Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs question. The first things you need to have are those which you need to live: oxygen to breathe, food, water, sleep. Once those are reasonably secured, people can try to obtain the next tier of needs: safety, health insurance (and by extension, health), shelter. Then are the social needs, like friends, sex, and community. Then come self-worth, social recognition, and finally, top-echelon goals like self-actualization and fulfilling your potential as a human being. People who don’t have the lower tiers all set (say, they’re starving and/or sick) aren’t going to be able to reach for the higher tiers (such as freedom).
Real world example: why do people give up a big part of their freedom each day for years on end to toil for a boss, abide by company rules, and sacrifice hours of their life that they could be enjoying in any number of ways? Because they need money for food, rent, and insurance.
It doesn’t mean political freedom is unimportant. Many people in this society who have eaten today and have safe homes find it very important to do things like vote and protest and write political arguments on Fluther. I also know of people that are so poor, they sell their votes for cash. If they were able to buy things already, their freedom would mean more to them.
I understand the argument that you need freedom first. I guess it depends on what you mean by “freedom.” In a Capitalist mindset, freedom means the ability to strive for what you need, and Godspeed. It’s important to be able to try for things that you want and need, that’s for sure. However, other people see “freedom” as not having to worry about needing to struggle to get things as basic as health care – and that is why the Soviets had a national health care system. (Did it work? Not the best. But at least they tried.)
This seems to be one of those deep divisions between the Left and the Right on what Democracy is and should be. Very often, the Right claims that everyone has the right to strive for what they need to live, and even though we don’t all start out with equal circumstances, we are free to do our best to change that. And very often, those on the Left claim that we’re not really a Democracy while power inequalities exist, and that for true freedom, we should all have the opportunity to participate (and how participatory can one be when one is hungry and sick, so we have to take care of that first).
In other words, @Hypocrisy_Central and @CodePinko see this from such fundamentally different angles that they may be unable to really perceive where the other is coming from. I doubt that any internet debate back-and-forth is going to change that.