Don't get trapped by the thought that you can't enjoy some freedom if you do not have total freedom. Setting goals is admirable. Knowing what Libertopia would look like is good; maybe even essential. How can you strive for something if you can't even picture what it is you want? But refusing to enjoy what freedom you have now, simply because Libertopia is not yet a reality, is very bad and self defeating. This is a pattern I fall into a lot.
I despise the very concept of "government". I utterly despise the existence of its armed enforcing apparatus; the cops. This does not mean I personally despise every government employee or cop I have ever met. Some of them are obviously OK people. They are absolutely dead wrong in what they are supporting with their time and their lives, but they honestly may not see it that way.
I need to relax about some things. I need to get on with the business of living free. I need to simply ignore those "laws" that I know are counterfeit, and not stress over it. If I get punished for living as I see fit, as long as I do not initiate force or fraud on anyone else, then I am not the one in the wrong, even if I am in jail. If there are some "laws" that I can live with, even comply with, knowing that they are wrong, then I should not worry about it. Choose your battles, as they say. "Getting away with" things under the watchful eye of the Malevolent Empire can even be fun. Think of it as a game. Become a Simon Jester. Thumb your nose at them (or flip them off) behind their backs.
I think some people see me as an angry anti-government loon. I am not angry, even if I come across that way sometimes. I hate injustice, especially when disguised as a "law", or cloaked with a flag. Certain situations do make me angry. These are often the ones I end up writing about. Things that don't arouse passion in me get short shrift. This is too bad. Rather than "anti-government", I am pro-liberty. Government is the opposite of liberty. Government is anti-me. Whether or not I am a loon... who knows. Do crazy people know they are crazy? I doubt it; that is part of what makes them crazy.
I will not stop promoting my vision of Libertopia, even while I quietly enjoy the fossils of liberty I still find in America. If by my rambling screeds, I inspire someone else to throw off some governmental shackles, then his victory will also help make the environment a bit more liberty-friendly for me as well. A victory for one is a victory for all. Victories, small though they may be, add up. I will rejoice in every small increase of liberty, even while I demand real, complete, lasting liberty for everyone everywhere. It is the only way I know.
As a Discordian Agorist, I think enjoying "actual freedom" (V.S. the "hope to someday, maybe, build some freedom for ourselves through political means") is just a matter of commitment. Let's get to it already. For example, I'm already actively evading tax and breaking illiberal regulations. I'm also looking into getting myself officially declared deceased, or make up some new identity as, say, a foreign diplomat.
ReplyDeleteWe're not gonna change the rules by abiding to the rules, so it's time to start making up our own, and actually living along those.
One can also try enlarging the userbase of decentralised banking systems like Ripple, inciting offshore asset protection, etc..; - leading to the progressive fading of revenue streams for the government.