“A house-elf must be set free, sir. And the family will never set Dobby free…Dobby will serve the family until he dies, sir…”
Harry stared. “Listen, Dobby,” he explained, patiently taking a knee. “Freedom, in a political context, has only one meaning: the absence of physical coercion. It does not mean freedom from the landlord, or freedom from the employer, or freedom from the laws of nature which do not provide men with automatic prosperity. It means freedom from the coercive power of the state, and nothing more.”
Almost at once, Harry wished he hadn’t spoken. Dobby dissolved again into wails of gratitude.
“Harry Potter is t-too good to Dobby, sir!”
“Listen,” Harry continued briskly, “because I’m only going to explain this once; I’m late for Model UN Club, which I’m protesting as fascism disguised as cooperation this afternoon. Knowledge, thinking, and rational action are properties of the what, Dobby?”
“The–the individual, sir,” Dobby whimpered.
“That’s right, Dobby. And since the choice to exercise his rational faculty or not depends on the individual, man’s survival requires that those who think be free of…”
“The interference of those who don’t, sir?” Dobby asked hopefully.
“Exactly,” said Harry. “Now, since wizards are neither omniscient nor infallible, they must be free to agree or disagree, to cooperate or to pursue their own independent course, each according to his own rational judgment. Freedom is the fundamental requirement of man’s mind. A rational mind does not work under compulsion; it does not subordinate its grasp of reality to anyone’s orders, directives, or controls; it does not sacrifice its knowledge, its view of the truth, to anyone’s opinions, threats, wishes, plans, or “welfare.” Such a mind may be hampered by others, it may be silenced, proscribed, imprisoned, or destroyed; it cannot be forced. Which means…” Harry prompted.
“Which means…a wand is not an argument, sir!” cried Dobby in amazement.
“You have been free this whole time,” Harry said. “Have a fiver.”
Dobby’s eyes glinted with the fire of an individual who has come to appreciate the value of money.