The Biggest Mistake Libertarians Ever Made

I think the biggest mistake libertarians ever made was to think "anti-statism" was the way to go instead of "anti-authoritarianism." The state is how liberty is ESTABLISHED, and how rights are brought from the imagination into reality. To date, there is no other way to do that. The abuse of such is authoritarianism, and yes is also potentially the greatest threat to liberty and human rights.

However, before the state brought rights into reality, there was nothing more than claims and wars over those claims.
 

No state, no liberty. No liberty, no libertarianism.

Hello! This is Liberty Speaking

 

Happy Independence Day!

Today I am more thankful for the Liberty we have than anything else. I woke up in a comfortable bed, in an air-conditioned room. I am a citizen of the 23rd most free nation on earth -- I wish we were the most, but being 23rd means that "shot heard round the world" in 1776 really has traveled the globe. Boom.
I turned on this marvel of a machine, this sorcery of our free society, and I saw my friends -- some politicians, some teachers, scientists, actors, and people from all walks of life -- posting radical ideas that in earlier days, would get people hanged.
I debated some of these things, liked others, ignored others. Either way, we were all free to read and write our radicalism, our crazy, most oddball ideas, and discuss them openly. Nobody feared "the knock on the door."
I then proceeded to publish things on this marvel, bawdy things, that would at least get me the stocks in days gone by, while I prepared a meal that only a man like King George would have eaten, back in the day.
I was able to do this because I am part of the largest, greatest, most libertarian enterprise in history -- the trade network that operates around the world. We are all able to do this, together, because of the liberty we share. Hunger is vanishing, lifespans and literacy increasing, and the world is getting better and better in so many ways, as liberty and democracy slowly, agonizingly expand. This is beautiful, and I think it's something to be thankful for, and reflect upon.
We have so much further to go, so many battles to fight, so many people to win over. So much wickedness, and so much stupidity, have also been part of it all, and that fight's all part of our never-ending battle.
Today, though...I am just going to enjoy our freedom -- and especially the blessings of liberty -- and thank you all for being part of this great experiment with me.

The Case is Clear

The case for liberty has never been more clear. There are now about a hundred countries that are (true, flawed, and hybrid) democracies with (overly) regulated capitalist economies with safety nets. Actual socialism is a dead issue. The new game is social democracy.


Are these countries perfect? No. Are they better than what they had a century ago, or even fifty years ago? Heck, yeah.

Each one of these countries -- from New Zealand, to Denmark, to Singapore and Hong Kong -- each place makes a separate case for economic and personal liberty, and the more deeply we look at each one, the more we see that it does.


I think it behooves us to study these places, and learn from their failures and successes. Libertarians have the ability to go beyond left and right here, and look at actual liberty in these places, so we can make our case to Americans even more. The world has changed, and the facts are with us.

https://www.cato.org/human-freedom-index

https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2017

Baruch Spinoza (24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677)

The ultimate aim of government is not to rule, or restrain, by fear, nor to exact obedience, but contrariwise, to free every man from fear, that he may live in all possible security; in other words, to strengthen his natural right to exist and work without injury to himself or others.
No, the object of government is not to change men from rational beings into beasts or puppets, but to enable them to develop their minds and bodies in security, and to employ their reason unshackled; neither showing hatred, anger, or deceit, nor watched with the eyes of jealousy and injustice. In fact, the true aim of government is liberty.
Spinoza, Theological-Political Treatise (1670)

(Art by Mitch Breitweiser)

Great Freemasons: William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930)

Next to the right of liberty, the right of property is the most important individual right guaranteed by the Constitution and the one which, united with that of personal liberty, has contributed more to the growth of civilization than any other institution established by the human race.
William Howard Taft, Popular Government: Its Essence, Its Permanence and Its Perils, chapter 3 (1913)



William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930) was the 27th President of the United States (1909–1913) and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States (1921–1930). He is the only person to have served in both of these offices.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft


( Kilwinning Lodge 365, Ohio)

Dag Hammarskjöld (29 July 1905 – 18 September 1961)

Our work for peace must begin within the private world of each one of us. To build for man a world without fear, we must be without fear. To build a world of justice, we must be just. And how can we fight for liberty if we are not free in our own minds? How can we ask others to sacrifice if we are not ready to do so?... Only in true surrender to the interest of all can we reach that strength and independence, that unity of purpose, that equity of judgment which are necessary if we are to measure up to our duty to the future, as men of a generation to whom the chance was given to build in time a world of peace.
Dag Hammarskjöld, in UN Press Release SG/360 (22 December 1953).

(Art by Alé Garza)

F.A. Hayek

Power

I Want YOU...

Great Freemasons: Simón Bolívar (1783 - 1830)

"A state too expensive in itself, or by virtue of its dependencies, ultimately falls into decay; its free government is transformed into a tyranny; it disregards the principles which it should preserve, and finally degenerates into despotism. The distinguishing characteristic of small republics is stability: the character of large republics is mutability." Simón Bolívar

Henry Clay (1777 - 1852)

"All religions united with government are more or less inimical to liberty. All, separated from government, are compatible with liberty." Henry Clay

Patrick Henry (1736 - 1799)

"Suspicion is a virtue as long as its object is the public good, and as long as it stays within proper bounds....Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel." Patrick Henry

John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873)

"The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant."
John Stuart Mill

Happy 99th Birthday, Milton Friedman! - ReasonTV

Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette (1757 - 1834)

"Lafayette's baptism of fire" by Edward Percy Moran. c. 1909

"Humanity has won its battle. Liberty now has a country."
Marquis de Lafayette

H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

"I believe in only one thing and that thing is human liberty. If ever a man is to achieve anything like dignity, it can happen only if superior men are given absolute freedom to think what they want to think and say what they want to say. I am against any man and any organization which seeks to limit or deny that freedom … the superior man can be sure of freedom only if it is given to all men." H. L. Mencken

July 2, 1776

On July 2, South Carolina reversed its position and voted for independence. In the Pennsylvania delegation, Dickinson and Robert Morris abstained, allowing the delegation to vote three-to-two in favor of independence. The tie in the Delaware delegation was broken by the timely arrival of Caesar Rodney, who voted for independence. The New York delegation abstained once again, since they were still not authorized to vote for independence, although they would be allowed to do so by the New York Provincial Congress a week later. The resolution of independence had been adopted with twelve affirmative votes and one abstention. With this, the colonies had officially severed political ties with Great Britain.

In a now-famous letter written to his wife on the following day, John Adams predicted that July 2 would become a great American holiday. Adams thought that the vote for independence would be commemorated; he did not foresee that Americans—including himself—would instead celebrate Independence Day on the date that the announcement of that act was finalized.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence

Louis Brandeis (1856 - 1941)

The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding. Louis Brandeis

Ron Paul 2012 - No army can stop an idea whose time has come

Has it been 30 years? maybe 29 for me.