Liberty frees from control situations

Liberty frees from control situations
(My Clovis News Journal column for July 25, 2014)

Why would anyone want liberty? It requires responsibility, after all. It removes most of your opportunities to whine and blame everyone else when things go wrong. It leads to minding your own business. Where's the fun in that?

Well, there are benefits.

What is liberty? According to Thomas Jefferson, "Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others."

"Unobstructed action"- absolutely anything which doesn't violate the identical liberty of some other person, regardless of what the law says, is within your rights to do. No one has a right to rule your life or prevent you from offending them.

Another way to put it might be "Don't do unto others as you would not have them do unto you.", which I have been told is a better translation of The Golden Rule.

Liberty frees you from feeling like you need to control other people's lives. Live your own life, and if someone encroaches on your life, liberty, or property, deal with them then and there.

Liberty lets you focus on your responsibility; not enforcing responsibility in others.

Instead of fretting over trivial matters, you can focus on what's really important. Is someone attacking the innocent or violating private property? No? Then forget it and move on. If they are, take steps to stop them.

The less time you spend worrying about what other people do, the more you will have to spend on being a better friend, relative, and neighbor.

You'll probably be less stressed out, too. It's a huge burden to feel what your neighbors do is somehow your business.

Liberty frees you from wringing your hands over situations you have no control over. Don't like what's going on in other countries? Can you actually do anything about it? If you can, should, and want to, go and do something. If not, concentrate on your own life. Don't force others to do what you think should be done, and don't force them to pay for it either. Meddling by those who think "something must be done" has caused the lion's share of political trouble.

You can also save a lot of time when you stop worrying whether something is "legal" and go straight to doing what is right.

It's easier to keep track of two or three universal laws than millions of federal, state, and local rules. How easy? Don't use force- or send others to use it on your behalf- against people who aren't attacking the innocent or violating private property, respect private property, and if you enter an agreement, do your best to keep it. Anyone can do that. Can't you?
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