Comments on: Independence 1776. Independence 201x?

By: Akston

Akston — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:21:30 +0000

Most of the folks I know who resist a call for liberty do it out of a sense of fear or contempt.

One group fears what might happen if people are left to succeed or fail as the “pursue happiness”. What happens when large companies invest badly then fail (most recently, after being heartily encouraged and “guaranteed” by government policies)? Does freedom include the freedom to fail? Are they “too big to fail”? To go bankrupt, reorganize, and start again? Many would have said no. Yet many of those companies did just that.

Another group finds successful people and groups contemptible. The bigger a company, the more evil it has become. They could not possibly have succeeded solely by offering valuable goods and services to an expanding base of customers. They must have used force or fraud to achieve that success, and are therefore evil. Freedom is for me, for people I know, and for people I choose to pity. Freedom should not apply to successful or rich people.

There have got to be other justifications for rejecting liberty, other nuances. But it is amazing how often opponents of liberty fall into a variant of one of these two perspectives.

Another quote, this one from Phelps Adams which I first read at The Liberty Papers:

“Capitalism and communism stand at opposite poles. Their essential difference is this:
The communist, seeing the rich man and his fine home, says: ‘No man should have so much.’
The capitalist, seeing the same thing, says: ‘All men should have as much.’”

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:23:17 +0000

Kathryn,
Although I don’t proselytize, I do try to demonstrate to my friends and associates when they are hipocrits. When they start whining about being regulated when it concerns them, I remind them how great it is to be protectect down to the lowest common denominator. These are generally the same people who want to be protected (read “I don’t want to be bothered with resposiblility”)when it is to their advantage or convenience.

By: Kathryn Rebecca

Kathryn Rebecca — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:47:08 +0000

You raise an incredibly salient point, Akston. I remember when I first discovered libertarianism, I was so excited about it that I was proselytizing to just about everyone I met; I had a conversation with my roommate about how I didn’t think the government should regulate speed limits because citizens who are responsible enough to operate motor vehicles *should* be responsible enough to operate them at a safe speed. She disagreed, and said that it was necessary for the government to protect us, even from ourselves. That statement, coming from someone I’d previously considered open-minded and willing to examine unfamiliar things, shocked me, and as I became more and more libertarian, I realized just how many people feel the same way.

So many Americans are complacent and content with living in this illusion of freedom and liberty that not only do they not notice when their liberty is being taken away, but sometimes they are actively helping to destroy it.

By: Akston

Akston — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:59:42 +0000

I still find it a bit amazing that a call for liberty is not more popular than it seems.

I’m reminded again of that Voltaire quote:
“It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.”

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:06:47 +0000

Where did all these lefties come from? I have rarely seen “The Bush Administration” or even republicans defended or praised on The Liberty Papers, nor did I see it in this article. so they are clearly responding to an Obama memo to attack the critics at The Liberty Papers.

By: Independence 1776. Independence 201x? | Police State Rising

Independence 1776. Independence 201x? | Police State Rising — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:05:28 +0000

[...] link to story [...]

By: Stephan Kinsella

Stephan Kinsella — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:09:05 +0000

I had some posts on related topics: The Murdering, Thieving, Enslaving, Unlibertarian Continental Army; Happy We-Should-Restore-The-Monarchy-And-Rejoin-Britain Day!; and Goodbye 1776, 1789, Tom.

By: News for 07/06/2009 « Soldierforliberty's Blog

News for 07/06/2009 « Soldierforliberty's Blog — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:56:55 +0000

[...] In late 2008, in the midst of a financial crisis unlike any we’ve seen since the Depression, the United States Government decided that it could take $700B and simply hand it out to banks — more accurately, force banks to take it — and don’t have any real duty to the public regarding oversight of those funds. In the same time, the Federal Reserve and United States Treasury have either used or promised guarantees to over $14T in assets — larger than the GDP of the nation. Since the election of Barack Obama, the United States Government passed a $787B stimulus bill not supported by a majority of Americans. The United States Government has de facto nationalized and illegally bankrupted two domestic automakers, rewriting the rules of bankruptcy in order to give out sweetheart deals to unions and the government. Most recently, the House Of Representatives has passed an enormous 1200-page Cap and Trade proposal (hidden tax) that included a 300-page amendment added only hours before the final vote. To believe that our “representatives” actually read this bill or its amendment is laughable. It is likely that over the next several months, the United States Government will pass a bill speeding us down the road to the nationalization of the healthcare industry, and to pay for it, enact a VAT to give them yet another revenue stream to extract the fruits of our labor. Throughout all this time, the United States Government pays lip service to the Constitution, but routinely acts contrary to both its letter and its spirit at every turn. It is therefore defying even its own supreme blueprint. If the United States Government is willing to act against the will of Americans, and if our “representatives” are willing to pass bills that they cannot and have not read — bills often giving law-making ability to unelected bureaucracies like the EPA, how can we really believe that we are a representative democracy? If the United States Government engages in barbaric acts such as crucifixion, how can we support it? If we have truly reached, as I believe, a point where our government views us not as citizens but as subjects, we must denounce the United States Government as illegitimate. Taken from an article in the Liberty Papers by Brad Warbiany. This article can be found in it’s entirety at http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2009/07/04/independence-1776-independence-201x/ [...]

By: Animal Farm

Animal Farm — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:08:22 +0000

Independence and Freedom…

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
Our founding fathers are ro…

By: Soldierforliberty's Blog

Soldierforliberty's Blog — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:01:58 +0000

[...] http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2009/07/04/independence-1776-independence-201x/ this anniversary of the date of American Independence, it is right to celebrate. It is right to remember the valiant and principled action of the Founding Fathers to take on the world’s great superpower and assert their rights — many lost their lives in the effort. We have a nation worth celebrating. [...]

By: Fidel X. Castro

Fidel X. Castro — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:32:53 +0000

What about Cuba?

By: Greg

Greg — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:13:27 +0000

Congratulations Brian, and excellent piece of work!

By: PulSamsara

PulSamsara — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 08:19:04 +0000

“Revolutions do not always require arms. They can start and succeed with ideas as well. Is liberty still an idea the means anything to you?”

America is great in that we have a ‘revolution’ every 4 years. We just had one.

By: PulSamsara

PulSamsara — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 08:17:57 +0000

“This is not about Republicans, Democrats, Liberals, Conservatives, Bush or Obama.”

Yes – it is.

By: Akston

Akston — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 04:36:43 +0000

This is not about Republicans, Democrats, Liberals, Conservatives, Bush or Obama. These topics are distractions from the main issues:

What should your government do?

Should there be any limits to its power?

How do we define and enforce those limits?

Is liberty still a desired American value?

How much liberty are you willing to trade away for the promise of physical or economic security?

The original post focuses on what it means to celebrate the anniversary of that Declaration. Do we still value a government instituted among men deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed to secure unalienable rights? Are flags and sparklers the extent of our dedication to that value?

Or can we speak up in defense of freedom? Can we refuse to tolerate government which routinely oversteps its bounds in order to serve a connected few at the expense of the rest of us? Can we wake from complacency before all of our liberty is gone? Is this still the land of the fee and home of the brave? Or are we the land of the regulated and home of the terrified?

The Roman government was able to distract the citizenry with bread and circuses as the empire was fading into history. Will entitlement programs and American Idol be our version?

Revolutions do not always require arms. They can start and succeed with ideas as well. Is liberty still an idea the means anything to you?