I have been flirting with the idea of starting a blog for a
few years now. Well, not really flirting but it's more like standing in the corner of a
middle school gymnasium at the Spring Dance staring and wondering about
starting a blog. Well, I have now walked across the gymnasium and awkwardly
asked this blog to dance….or something like that. So, please excuse me for when
I step on your toes.
I guess the year was 2006 in which my Wikipedia reading
would spider web into 20 or so browser tabs of "related" subjects and topics into
a cacophony of random reading. It was through this galaxy of randomness that I
stumbled upon a 19th century French political economist and
classical liberal theorist named Frederic Bastiat. His work seemed intriguing, and I decided to purchase a used dog eared copy of his most famous piece of
work, The Law. This short pamphlet clocked
in at 48 pages in large print, yet every single sentence is quotable enough to
become its own internet circulated meme. After The Law, I purchased copies of Economic
Sophisms, Economic Harmonies and Selected Essays on Political Economy. It
was through Bastiat that I found my catalyst into Libertarianism. I could write
quite a bit about Bastiat, but that isn't why I am here.
My objective here is simply to further my understanding of libertarianism.
These will not be beautiful essays nor will I write the libertarian rebuttal to
end each and every debate with statists and collectivists. What I hope to
accomplish beside my own enlightenment is to further the discussion and, who
knows, maybe even influence a person or two to see an issue from a different
light.
Today, the majority of citizenry in the United States seems to
be deeply segregated across two political party lines. There is a lot of
screaming, cheering, flag waving, t-shirts, bumper stickers and hatred for the
other guys that you would sometimes think that you were at a football game. Ultimately, it appears the parties of elephants and donkeys are playing the same sport but
with west coast offense and wildcat offense. Although there are some minor differences in ideology, and they really are minor, both parties have decided
that there isn’t a problem that can't be resolved with more government involvement.
I have come to terms with knowing that most Americans don’t
want to be free, and they definitely don’t want anyone else to be free. I
believe this is because most people have confused the difference between freedom
and equality. Everyone can be equal in an unjust society but not free. It seems
that more and more individuals have become defenders of the initiation of
force. People interact either through voluntary means or coercion. Through voluntary
action, two parties would have to both agree on a favorable exchange of value. At
no point is anyone forced into an exchange but rather must negotiate. Coercive action is best seen as government. Citizens are expected to
comply with rules and regulations. When compliance is not achieved, force is initiated
in the way of fines, prison and sometimes even worse. At this point it appears
the majority of Americans do not see a problem with the coercive force of
government. I really believe that all of this just proves that people want to be in
control of others and dictate their lives.
I don’t believe there is a thing called the “American Dream”.
James Adams defined the American Dream as, "life should be better and richer and
fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each." I don’t believe that
sentiment is unique to Americans alone but rather the human race. The American
Dream is a Humanity Dream. What sets the distinction in America is the
philosophical approach of individual liberty with the ability to pursue your
happiness without the interference of others as long as you didn't interfere on the rights of others. We have since got away from this philosophy and went down the road of
greater government emphasis and a one size fits all package. On one side you
have a party that wants to increase the size of the warfare state and on the
other side you have a party that wants to increase the size of the welfare
state. In the end, as the revolving door of political power changes hands, we
have seen the expansion of both the warfare and welfare state.
Today, Barack Obama was inaugurated for a second term, and the Internet is a score of comments and opinions. There are a lot of people that
believe a single person can guide and rule single-handily over an entire
nation. Most comments and opinions are stating whether or not Obama is fit to
govern over us. I guess this is one of the things I find so appealing about
libertarianism. There is this notion that libertarians are secretly plotting to
take over the world so they can leave you alone. I can't say for sure what will
happen in the next 4 years, but I am pretty sure we will not see a more
libertarian society. I believe we will see a continued and more aggressive
drone war, we will have more meddling in nations where we shouldn’t be, there
will be a continued war on drugs and gay marriage, spending will not go down,
deficits will increase, more liberties will be eroded and the once shining reputation that America had will continue to fade. Yet that is
what makes our two party system so amusing. At every wrong turn they
will be there pointing the blame at the other explaining that things would have been
different under their watch. Then again, isn’t that the great fiction of the
state to begin with?
-Michael Coyne
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