Supporting liberty not contradictory
(My Clovis News Journal column for March 21, 2014)
What is a quick way to cause confusion? Advocate liberty consistently and watch what happens.
I'll use myself as an illustration:
I am a firm believer in the high value of education, therefore I am not a fan of public schooling, nor any schooling based upon the same template.
I hate aggressive violence which threatens the innocent, therefore I actively and publicly oppose all anti-gun "laws".
I know the necessity of good, safe roads for all aspects of life and liberty, and therefore I don't appreciate seeing government employees patrolling and controlling them.
I crusade for property rights, opposing all theft and aggression against individuals, therefore I want nothing to do with laws or courts, and have no respect for either.
I hate to see people destroy their lives through addictions, therefore I expose prohibition for the unconstitutional and inhumane abomination it is.
These positions only seem contradictory to people who refuse to notice the actual, real-world results of the state's approach. Once you dig to the bottom of things you can see the world in a much clearer, brighter way than before.
But, getting to the bottom of things can make one unpopular. It means calling a spade a spade, no matter how much others wish to see it as something else. It means digging up problems with favored institutions and other things which many people are emotionally attached to, and exposing bad sides people would prefer to not face.
It means recognizing that schools based upon the "Prussian Model", as are all schools in America, were never meant to educate, but to indoctrinate and pacify.
It means understanding that anti-gun "laws" only restrain those who are not bad guys in the first place, leaving the real thugs free to prey at will.
It means knowing governments don't build roads, nor are they held accountable for the road conditions or damage their roads cause, all the while claiming use of "their" roads implies consent to give up all your basic human rights in the name of "safety". This is nonsense.
It means admitting the greatest threat which has ever existed to property, as well as to life and liberty, is (and has always been) people calling themselves "government" of one sort or another. Real restitution is a low priority for them, compared to enriching the state's treasury and paying for the bureaucracy.
It means seeing that the War on Politically Incorrect Drugs- Prohibition- has created the market for more concentrated, and more dangerous, substances, and causes people to not seek help they might otherwise want, out of fear of the disproportionate consequences.
Being consistent in support of liberty only looks contradictory until you examine the alternative.
.
A very good article, Kent. Unfortunately, only those of us who understand true liberty will understand. The statists will not.
ReplyDeleteI suspect you're right. Any suggestions on how to get through to the others? I'm always open to suggestions.
Delete"...only those of us who understand true liberty will understand."
ReplyDeleteSubstitute "true liberty" with "the One True God" or "true patriotism" or, well, you get the point. Or maybe you don't. Whenever I hear someone using the words "we" or "us" or "them", I know I've stumbled across a belief, that virus that clouds the mind and precludes rational thought.
Thinking only happens in a single mind. If you need numbers to back up your pet notion, no matter what sort of "ism", then you'll have to do it without me. That includes freedom, liberty, and ZAP, which are, I'm sorry to say, beliefs.
Dave
At least those are beliefs based upon how human nature really works. If you doubt me, just consider their opposites. ;)
Delete"Substitute 'true liberty' with 'the One True God' or 'true patriotism' or, well, you get the point."
DeleteSorry, Dave. That's not the point and it sounds like college philosophy...that alone is evidence that it's wrong!
It's like saying, "The moon...a. gives off its own light, b. is made of green cheese, or c. is about a quarter million miles from Earth." Those are all "beliefs" in a fashion, but one is very different from the others. As Kent aptly noted, the relevant distinction is whether or not a fact is being recognized in the belief. That would be correspondence, and its presence or absence (interestingly itself a fact and not opinion BTW) determines whether or not the belief is TRUE.
The underlying identification behind all consistent freedomistas is the nature of the object. You ARE a free-willed person and so is everyone else. That's TRUE and is therefore a particular type of belief---specifically, the type that are chosen by rational thinkers to believe.
Kent,
DeleteI'm sympathetic to your belief system. I'm a laissez-faire kinda guy myself. BUT...I also believe we (there's that damn word again) should examine our beliefs, to see if we SHOULD believe them. My gut tells me that freedom is better than slavery, but that's just my opinion. ALL beliefs are opinion. Whenever I hear someone justify his beliefs by saying that reality is on his side, I know I've found a True Believer. Own it, of course, if you must, but examine it nonetheless.
Dave
Jim Klein,
Delete"...it sounds like college philosophy...that alone is evidence that it's wrong!"
Did I make your belly growl? If I had said, "I just Loooove Freedom!", would that have made your belly purr? Would that have made me your new BFF?
"You ARE a free-willed person and so is everyone else. That's TRUE and is therefore a particular type of belief---specifically, the type that are chosen by rational thinkers to believe."
Depends. If the power of your thought is occluded by your beliefs, then you can't think. Not at all.
Dave
Oh, I do examine my beliefs. That's mainly why this blog exists. "Just my opinion" doesn't mean you are wrong. There are correct opinions and incorrect opinions (and beliefs). In most cases it is possible to discover which is which.
DeleteEach person needs to decide whether his own freedom is better than his own slavery- and no one can make that decision for anyone else. Some may choose slavery for themselves, but that doesn't give them the right to enslave others. Just as I can't "force" anyone else to be free- the contradiction is absurd. However, if I see someone being enslaved, and hear them cry out for help, I can conclude they are of the opinion that freedom is better than slavery for themselves, and I would hope I would do something about it.
So, yes, I "believe" it, as a True Believer- but only because I have examined it and the alternatives.
"Depends. If the power of your thought is occluded by your beliefs, then you can't think. Not at all."
ReplyDeleteIs that supposed to mean something? I'd ask what you think thought is, but your answer would bore me.
Your first word is enough to throw the whole thing out. Sorry, the following DEPENDS ON NOTHING. If you're just trying to express that you can imagine things as they might have been were they different, then that's a great accomplishment but most of us realized that when we were about five years old.
I don't want to distract you. The following DEPENDS ON NOTHING. It's just TRUE, that's all. It REFERENCES a FACT.
"You ARE a free-willed person and so is everyone else."
"Whenever I hear someone justify his beliefs by saying that reality is on his side, I know I've found a True Believer."
ReplyDeleteSheesh; how do you even manage to get food into your body? Tell you what...step in front of a speeding Mack truck, and see if you can figure out the difference between fact and opinion. See if reality has any "side" in that instance. It'll be okay---after all, your teachers taught you there's only belief.
Forgive my bluntness, but you gotta understand something. Those hundreds of millions of corpses brought about by last century's tyranny, weren't literally murdered by Tyrants. They were murdered by people who think like you. The Tryrant's, and especially the Tyrant's intellectuals, did it through persuasion. If there are no facts, and reality isn't on "any side," then it's just a matter of going with the flow; go along to get along. And so everyone does, until they're gassing other people in the showers. "Hey, I was told that's the right thing to do and besides, everyone's doing it."
"My gut tells me that freedom is better than slavery, but that's just my opinion." Uh huh, and lemme guess...you throw some dice to decide whether to walk on the floor or the ceiling. That's one of the saddest sentences I've ever read and whether you understand it or not, you were the victim of child abuse. I'm truly sorry about that, and I hope each reader understands that every single one of us paid for it in some small way. Nobody can change the past, but you CAN get your mind back.
Jim,
DeleteThanks for schooling me. I'll stop gassing people in the showers and I'll work on getting my mind back.
Dave
You're welcome, Dave. I'll say this for the "There are no facts, only beliefs" crowd...you guys can come up with pretty sharp retorts. That was one; impressive. Of course, those retorts are never about the facts. How could they be, since supposedly they don't exist?
Delete