Push through the pain for liberty

Push through the pain for liberty

(My Clovis News Journal column for January 9, 2015)

There is a balance to life. I love when my son comes to visit, even though it means I'll feel sadness when he has to head home again. The joy of his presence is worth the pain of his departure.

All of life is a trade-off like this. Don't allow your desire to avoid pain or sadness rob you of opportunities for joy.

A free society would also bring some pain, but just like a short visit from a loved one, the pain would be worth the gains. To enjoy the benefits of liberty you have to take the initiative to push through the pain. It won't be as bad as you have built it up to be in your imagination.

You might miss your secure government job, until you realize having more options brings more real security in the long run. And more wealth.

You might miss your entitlements and those government benefits you believe you have earned, until you realize how insignificant and inadequate those are compared to what you could provide for yourself without the barriers erected all around you "for your own good".

You might feel insecure without tax-financed protection rackets, until you discover how those actually propped up the very things you feared, and how much better you can provide for your own protection when self-defense is no longer criminalized. No one is as motivated to protect you and your property as you are; hired protection can always be bought off and will always have divided loyalties- at best. That's natural. It's a poor substitute for taking responsibility for your own safety.

Liberty would require some adjustments and they wouldn't be instant or without discomfort.

Any temporary discomfort caused by the loss of your chains would be quickly overshadowed by the opportunities liberty presents. Don't let the fear or pain hold you back. That's like refusing to let your son come visit because you don't want to be sad when the time comes for him to leave.

Thomas Jefferson observed: "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it." What has happened to 21st Century Americans to make us so frightened of "what ifs" and imagined inconveniences that we flee from precious liberty and trade it for false security? As Benjamin Franklin wrote: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." And, I'll add, they'll have neither.

Be up to the challenge. Push through any pain to get to the good things on the other side. Deserve liberty and take it. It's up to you.
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"Get a real job"

Government bureaucrats, puppeticians, and enforcers are happy to see people with a job- as long as they do it the government-approved way. Go to college, go in debt, get a job where taxes can be easily calculated and confiscated. Then get licensed, get your permits, pay your fees, obey the zoning "laws" and codes.

What those government goons don't like is if you make money some other way.

If you don't fit the mold you are marginalized. Suspected. You might just be thinking too much- or too well. You are not helping prop up the silly notion of how helpful and useful The State is. You might not be "contributing your fair share"- through "taxation"- to the selfless thugs in the "public sector".

I've witnessed this phenomenon my entire life- and it has only gotten worse over time.

So, if you want to be appreciated by society, do it the normal way. Even better, get a government "job".

But if you'd rather be an actual good and productive person, take the other path. Funny, either path can lead to you performing the same tasks for your money, but the second path will probably make an ethical person feel better about themselves than the other would.

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