Why ShopFreedom

I started ShopFreedom for the others like me, people who care about freedom and who are willing to support it through their purchases.

I want to make it easy for you to do this. I commit to provide you with links to products for which I have been able to determine a free country of origin. Please be aware that for many (but not all) of these links, ShopFreedom may make a commission from your purchase.

I aspire also to provide information about free countries and profiles of the businesses in these places. When this business becomes profitable, I intend to donate a portion of the profits to Freedom House and other organizations with the mission of promoting freedom.

So please, buy something on this site. Know that you are not only supporting freedom but also benefiting from freedom, and feel good about how you spend your money.

From the time I have had my own money to spend, I have been frustrated at the experience of shopping for a product, looking to see where it was made, and finding that is was manufactured in some totalitarian regime that seemed not particularly friendly.

It was difficult to pinpoint a single reason for this distaste. It occurred to me that the person who made the product would not be the one who benefits from my purchase. This led me to question the morality of buying something made by a person who was something like a slave and to suspect the quality of a product made by someone with no incentive to do his best work.

It also seemed like a missed opportunity to support a young free country.

A little later in my life I worked on the development team for the Honda Civic designed in the United States and built in Brazil. Brazil is an amazing country with wonderful people who make great stuff. Up until the mid-1980s, it had been a military dictatorship.

*Who would’ve imagined that the humble Honda Civic would become a symbol of shopping supporting free countries?*

It was around the time that I worked for Honda that I first became aware of Freedom House (freedomhouse.org), even though the organization was founded in 1941. According to the organization’s website, Freedom House “is founded on the core conviction that freedom flourishes in democratic nations where governments are accountable to their people; the rule of law prevails; and freedoms of expression, association, and belief, as well as respect for the rights of women, minorities and historically marginalized groups, are guaranteed.”

*Why wouldn’t we support a young democracy like Brazil with our money?*

Freedom House became a good, objective guide to where freedom existed in the world and, by extension, which countries I should strive to support with my business. I will say that I do not think Freedom House is perfect nor do I always agree with their assessments 100%.

I have spent a lot of time over the years since then trying to determine where things are made and insisting on buying things made in free countries.

Some people roll their eyes when I talk about it, but I noticed that many people feel the same way that I do. And I understand that the motivation to buy from free people is not totally altruistic. Free people make better products because they are free.

As Adam Smith wrote around the time that my country (the United States of America) was asserting its freedom: “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our necessities but of their advantages.” Free people will work smarter and harder for your business because it benefits them to do so.