Freedom, From the Inside Out
“Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.” – George Washington
The United States, and Western civilization in general, has long been slouching into easy serfdom. One finds expansions of governmental power, into the lives of the individual, at every turn.
Most alarmingly, it is the citizens (no doubt ignorant of the social costs) that demand tighter shackles. Where once the American citizen would bellow indignantly at the overreach of Uncle Sam (sliding his fingers into your pocket), he now pats you down for a dollar without so much as a whimper.
2016 has seen many drastic changes in culture and politics. The SJWs harden their line, as they slither into more avenues of power; and the Nazis slunk out from their hollows to protest. Militant Islamist groups have gone from being a remote geopolitical concern, to a social and cultural reality. And last, but certainly not least, the political and media establishment received a huge kick in the teeth; being spited their presidential pick – the sickly war-hawk that is Clinton – for an imperious orangutan that breaks his promises.
But all is not lost, nor even grim. With these tribulations, there is one great boon that has been given to the people; or perhaps it’s better to say, given back to the people. We’re slowly realizing that our faith should not be in princes or their policies, but in ourselves.
We’re remembering, reconciling, reevaluating personal liberties and their new place in our ever-changing world. Libertarian candidates have received more votes as a third party than ever before. A rediscovery of Adam Smith, John Locke, David Hume and the works that they’ve produced is happening on a massive scale.
Facebook pages like Being Libertarian, The Art of Not Being Governed, V is For Voluntary, and dozens like it are popping up and becoming very popular. It’s invisible to the public and the media, but I’ve personally discussed the necessity of liberty in the free market with more college-age people than I’m sure most would believe.
There is a growing movement of people my age group, 18 to 25, who are understanding the importance of being free, not just as lip service, not as an abstract, but as a political and psychological reality. There is real value in a society that places liberty as its highest and most exalted ideal.
However, no value exists alien to all the others. As Keyvan Farmanfarmaian expressed in his article – there is a need for virtues, ideals to be passed down from one generation to the next.
One of the problems of the post-modern world, is that all of their merits have been untethered from each other, and this is precisely where destructive ideologies slip in. For the communists, the one true ideal was equality; and for that, they sacrificed truth, justice, kindness, compassion, and of course liberty. The Nazis virtue was purity; purity of blood and body, and for it they committed the filthiest and most grotesque acts mankind had ever known!
If you give up a moral matrix in exchange for any singular virtue, then, you will only destroy and erode everything worth defending!
Thus, I think it is necessary to define, or rather redefine, what liberty means as a virtue, and what are the other virtues that it necessitates. Here I’ve highlighted some moral observations that I regard as being foundational and supporting of liberty.
Some may see this list as old-fashioned, but I see this list as a matter of practical necessity. I hope to take this as a policy, a daily reminder of what is needed to secure my freedom and independence. It is by no means complete, but together these principles represent the pillars to good and sensible conduct.
To be free one must be Brave. Only boldness, and a willingness to break free from the easy route to find my own path, will keep me a lion in a flock of sheep.
To be free one must speak the Truth. Lies obscure reality, and make it easy to fall for a charlatan’s pretty words.
To be free one must be Tough. There is no end to ordeals that people must go through, and you must be willing to suffer for any mistakes made.
To be free one must be Just. Infringing on others and their freedom invites the same on me. Conducting myself with justice and humanity is my first defense.
To be free one must be Willing to Break Rules. Being too timid to disobey will give license to the powerful to force me into unjust actions.
To be free one must be Productive. If I don’t work hard for myself, on what basis can I found my own life.
I take these values and virtues to heart and I try to let them guide me where I can, the political atmosphere in the West is in dire need of them. There is a revival going on in America, it is slow, so slow it is almost invisible; but it is going on in the hearts and minds of true sons of liberty.
Don’t let this revival be one that is solely political in nature, or else you’ll be like those hypocrites on the hill, two-faced to everyone who is willing to give you a sideways glance.
Make the love of freedom, and the hardship that comes with truly loving anything, become a complete ethical and moral code. Ask yourself every day: “how do I live and act, so that I may exemplify all of the highest and noblest aspects of a free man?” This must happen from the inside out, this renewal of all that was good in an American – to restore America.
Or else we doom our nation, our goals, and our children to a miserable sagging serfdom.
* Joshua Adams-Leavitt is a recent college graduate working hard in a career in the fine arts. A young black man who has grown increasingly disillusioned with the left-right buffoonery, and decided to educate himself on matters of law, economics, history, and philosophy. He enjoys cold glasses of bleach after a long day’s work and drunkenly cursing at cats in his neighborhood.
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