I was a young boy prior to the years of obsession over school bullying, gender identity, and zero tolerance suspensions due to brandishing a gun-shaped pop tart. Sadly, this really wasn’t that long ago, but progressive policy has moved like a bullet train as I developed through puberty, and into manhood. While the world moved on around me, the ideas that were taught in my home as a youth were an amalgamation of the classical liberalism of Locke, and Rousseau, and the more conservative moral ideas of Mormon parents.
As an introspective thinker, I arrived at my own conclusions about morality, God, and society as I matured. Thankfully, the seeds of individualism, and inalienable rights did take root and grow. I enjoy a good argument, and I find it lamentable that most people in our modern society don’t understand the basic rules for a civilized debate; first that you will present your logical argument, and give your opponent the opportunity to find fault with your logic in their counter-argument, and second that both parties must be willing to change their paradigm if their opponent provides a superior argument. Debate isn’t supposed to be a hammer fight where you try to bludgeon your opponent into oblivion with your opinion, yet that’s mostly what you get if your opinion differs with someone else on social media, or at a party. In such an echo chamber of ideas, it is hardly a mystery that foundational concepts of individualism, and accountability in a free society are shouted down by the masses of troglodyte lemmings obsessed with the administration of road construction, and the all-inclusive bakery that we need big brother to maintain.
When I read 1984 for the first time, I would never have imagined how the concept of the thought police could be realized by people using social media to shout down, and condemn others for thinking outside of the collective norms. There is no specific law in our country forbidding me from saying what I think, just as there was no law in 1984, but the thought police are there with their vitriol and ready to excoriate you for having a different opinion at any moment.
The emphasis and concern about micro-aggressions in our current culture are ostensibly to protect minorities and individuals, but it is a macro-aggression against individual liberty, and the freedom of expression. In a free society ideas and logic, rather than feelings must be the driving factors in legislation, and it is essential that a free people can be offended, and still move on with their life. The problems that arise in a society where there is a power struggle in an authoritarian government between two ideologies, is that they take turns over the course of time, making laws to oppress one another. Rather than participating in the insane debate over marriage equality, libertarians were asking why the government is even involved in marriage? What other rights can they take away, and sell back to us through licensing? The individual who doesn’t agree with either ideology finds their personal liberties being chipped away steadily, until one day you can’t even have a private conversation, or choose who you want to do business with.
Collectivism is the underlying ideology driving both the Progressive, and Neoconservative movements today. Sadly, Collectivism is the opposite of the libertarian ideology, which is focused on the individual’s inalienable rights. The concept of “the greater good” is very similar to the concept of “fairness”, in the sense that when a liberty loving person hears these terms, they know that they are about to lose more of their freedoms, or property. Because I want to be able to be myself, and keep the fruits of my labor for myself, and my family I must stand up for those same rights for others. It is a very easy decision for 9 wolves and 1 sheep to vote on what’s for dinner, but the sad reality in our country is more complicated
than that. Because of class warfare, race warfare, gender warfare, etc. we as a society are easily manipulated into supporting the suppression of rights for someone else, for the benefit of our sect. Whether it’s tax evasion by the rich, or welfare fraud and abuse by the poor, you should get mad and focus on them. Never mind the fact that you work from January to May to support a government that spends your money on whatever they like, with no legitimate representation for you. Private property rights are an essential element of liberty, and taxation is a violation of those property rights. When you spend almost half of your life working to pay an overlord, with the power of law enforcement that is beyond reproach there to ensure the collection of your money, you aren’t free.
If government derives its power from the people, then it logically follows that the government cannot have more power than the people. If you think the government has the right to do something to your neighbor, that you don’t have the right to do yourself, you support an authoritarian regime. If your government doesn’t have the right to steal from you, to murder you, to assault you, or to harass you, then you live in a free society. This benefits everyone else, the same way it would benefit me, and that’s what is so special about it. In the book, Why Nations Fail they did a fantastic job explaining the minutia of extractive institutions in government, vs inclusive institutions in societies. In a nutshell, people work harder, and are more productive, imaginative, and peaceful when they have the freedom to pursue their own goals.
In a free market, we have the ability the succeed or fail, based on our ability to provide value to the market. It’s really that simple; currency is supposed to be a monetized expression of value to simplify the exchange of goods and services. If you can do something that provides value to someone else, and you can effectively market it, or partner with someone who can, you absolutely should succeed in a free market. Communities had roads and public works before taxes were a thing, and if taxes ceased to exist, systems could be devised to maintain and create new roads. Economic bubbles that ruin people’s lives are caused by artificial interest rates, and market manipulation by central banks. There is no place for the Fed in a free market, and if we want to have a truly fluid capitalist market the Fed should go.
Even more significant than a free market for currency, is the free market for ideas. If someone wants to serve a cake to the KKK, but not to a homosexual wedding, or vice-versa that is none of mine, or anyone else’s business. Martin Luther King Jr. used the free market to change the bus company policy by promoting a boycott, which worked better than anything the government could have done by force. If you don’t like something in a free society, vote with your wallet, and encourage others to do the same. When the judicial branch of government is used as a weapon to promote, or antagonize an ideology because people’s feelings are being hurt, freedom is hurt.
It’s easy to stand on one side of an issue, and condemn all others, but if we truly want freedom we must be willing to debate our ideas, concede where we cannot defend our ideas, and in the case of ideas that cannot be proven such as religious ideas, agree to disagree. If we want to be free, we need to change the course of government to being a protector of liberties, rather than an enforcer of the ideology of the current power holders. This benefits everyone, because you can live your life in peace, and prosperity without worrying about the other party taking power and attacking you.
* Evan Meisman is a super sexy awesome guy who lives in South Dakota.
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