-Caveat Lector-
ON FREEDOM
"Freedom" is probably one of the most used�and misused�words by politicians
of all stripes. If anything, "freedom" is probably used more by statist
politicians, the destroyers of freedom, than anyone else. Tyrants have
almost always sold their tyranny to its victims in the name of "freedom."
What is freedom and do you have a right to it? If you do, why?
Before proceeding farther, take a moment to write down your answer to these
questions. What is freedom? Do you have a right to it? If so, why?
Your definition of freedom should be confined to one, brief sentence. If
you claim you have a right to freedom, your answer should be restricted to a
single sentence�no more.
Remember, that the purpose of a definition is to provide a concept with
identity, to distinguish that concept from all others. A definition should
clearly set apart that aspect of reality to which a concept refers from all
other aspects of reality. Your definition of freedom should make its
meaning real.
This may seem like a schoolhouse exercise, but give it a try. Write down
your answer, then go to the remainder of this article. You will find it
instructive. And it will provide you with a clue about why freedom has
been on the defensive for all of the 20th century.
Freedom is the ability to act without the initiation of force (or its
threat) being used against you. You have a right to freedom because your
life is your property, yours to live as you see fit (as long as you do not
violate the right to life and liberty of another).
If you are free, you have the unfettered ability to pursue your own
happiness, to make those choices needed for the sustenance of your own life.
In a semi-free society, such as we have today, your options are forcibly
limited by statist politicians on the implicit claim that your life is not
your own. But take special note of this important fact: your ability, in a
free society, to make unfettered choices is the consequence of being
unfettered, i.e., of being unconstrained by the initiation of force.
"Having choices" is not the definition of freedom, it is simply one of the
consequences of being free.
Now, consider your definition of freedom. Is your definition corrupted,
even if slightly, by the definition of freedom which has been put forth by
statist politicians?
Statists define freedom as "having a choice," the kind of choices only
available to an armed thug or a statist politician. Consider the role this
definition of "freedom" has played, and continues to play, in the rise of
America�s welfare state�more accurately characterized as America�s parasite
state, one in which some forcibly feed off of the earnings of others.
Having successfully substituted the statist definition of "freedom" in the
minds of most, statists argue, to quote from Fatal Blindness, "that children
of poor parents do not have the �freedom� to attend the college of their
choice or the �freedom� to receive the very best medical care because of a
lack of funds or that some struggling artists do not have �freedom� of
expression because they lack money�." The logic of such arguments has
driven, and continues to drive, statism�s rapacious growth, bringing us
statist programs that forcibly take your money in order to provide others
with more "freedom," all at the expense of forcibly denying you the freedom
to decide how your money is to be spent.
Statists are all over the place offering new "freedoms," new choices made
available through the initiation of government force. By means of
compulsion, statists make options available to some by denying free choice
to others (which is what statists are attempting to do in the case of
Microsoft in their attempt to force Microsoft to include Netscape in Windows
98). In the name of "freedom," statists destroy actual freedom. In the
name of "choice," statists destroy actual, free choice.
We now have statists claiming that poor children are being denied equal
access to the Internet, that we must provide them with the same "freedom"
enjoyed by others, that you are to be forced to pay for computers for these
poor children�which means: you are going to be forcibly denied the freedom
to refuse to pay for such computers.
And now we have our chief statist, Clinton, pushing for a patient�s "bill of
rights," for a new set of "freedoms" that will be acquired by means of the
initiation of force, either forcing certain individuals to do certain things
or forcibly forbidding them from doing some things�which means: certain
individuals will be forcibly prevented from interacting voluntarily with
others, destroying real freedom. And if they can do it to these
individuals, they can do it to you.
If actual freedom is to be secured for ourselves and future generations, it
must be clearly defined. As I have stated on more than one occasion, you
cannot defend what you cannot define. If the statist definition of
"freedom" continues to be accepted by a majority, freedom will continue its
decline�and that is why it is so important to loudly proclaim the real
meaning of freedom. Only then can you defend your right to it by declaring
what should be the bumper sticker of your life: "My Life Is Mine. Persuade
Me, Don�t Force Me. Give Up Your Government Guns."
Fulton Huxtable
May 31, 1998
� Copyright 1998 Fulton Huxtable
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-----------------------------------------------------------
THE NEW AMERICAN
http://www.thenewamerican.com/departments/right_answers/index.htm
April 27, 1998
Volume 14, No. 9
Q. Do you have to be alive to get Food Stamps?
� M.U., Greensburg, PA
A. Presumably it is illegal for the dead to collect food coupons, but that
is what has been happening, as reported in a General Accounting Office study
released this year. The congressional watchdog agency estimated that more
than 25,800 dead people were issued Food Stamps during 1995-96. The worth of
the stamps over the two-year period was $8.5 million. It used to be said
that there are only two things one could be sure of � death and taxes. Now
it seems we are even being taxed to feed the dead.
--- � William P. Hoar
lol
Bard
Visit me at:
The Center for Exposing Corruption in the Federal Government
http://www.xld.com/public/center/center.htm
Federal Government defined:
....a benefit/subsidy protection racket!
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