the.com/selfrule
the radical idea that you know your own business better than your distant owner.
means The condition of a people, community, or person governing themselves rather than being controlled by an outside power or authority.
from A plain English compound of "self" + "rule," both old Germanic-rooted words. "Self" traces back to Old English "self" (one's own person), and "rule" comes through Old French "reule" from Latin "regula" (a straight stick, a measuring rod, hence a standard to govern by) — itself tied to "regere," to direct or keep straight. The pairing belongs to that family of compounds (self-government, self-determination) that bloomed when political thinkers needed crisp native words for the idea that a people might hold the measuring rod themselves.
- ancient roots
- Greek autonomia meant cities making their own laws
- Indian word
- Gandhi called it swaraj, meaning self-governance
- hardest part
- freedom won is easier than freedom kept
- scales down
- applies to nations, towns, and your own mind
wyoming territory 1869 — first u.s. territory to grant women the right to vote, establishing self-rule over voting rights
hong kong 1997 handover — china agreed to 'one country, two systems' allowing hong kong 50 years of semi-autonomous self-rule