From Mises.org:Here is Robert LeFevre's classic argument (1959) for a purely free society, the essay that made him a leading, if controversial, spokesman for the libertarian position on government and society in the 2nd half of the twentieth century. He argues that government is in its essence a violation of rights, one that makes life brutal, poor, and short. He demonstrates that no government anywhere has lived up to its basic promises, and calls on all people to contribute to building a new kind of freedom.
Why all of this emphasis on political theory?
Start with my three-part organizational framework:
1) We're screwed.
2) There's gonna be a fight.
3) Let's win.
At present, we are wobbling between points 1 and 2. Very few people are thinking about winning the battle against transnational socialism, so we'll be talking more about that topic in the coming weeks.
But I think it even more important to consider a fourth point while we plan how to crush our enemies.
Let's say we pull it off, over whatever geography and time scale it takes.
What then?
We can and should talk about the foundational trilogy (DoI, USC, and BoR).
However, the fact that AmRev3 is in its opening throes suggests strongly that mere reversion to the Founders' works will not be sufficient either to secure our victory or to prevent tyranny from sprouting anew from its shattered remnants.
Hence the libertarian theory. LeFevre comes highly recommended, and it behooves those of us who will hacking away in the upcoming struggle to have a firm grounding in why we are fighting.
Killing your oppressors is both necessary and good -- but ensuring that you have done all you can to prevent their reincarnation is even more important.
Take the time to read each of LeFevre's chapters, and think how it might (or might not) soon apply to the area known as the Former United States of America.
Man and His Government
A Reasonable Viewpoint
Aggressive Power
The Law Factory
Government As Competitor
National Defense
A Government's Government
The Product Of Fear
The Guillotine
Two-Party System
Superstitious Awe
Varying Forms Of Government
The American Experiment
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
Anti-Individual Device
Is There A Way Out?
The Voluntary Way
What Can You Do?
If you solve the problem of #4 well enough, you may even be able to skip most or all of #2. There could be a peaceful national Berlin-wall-falling type moment, where enough people think: 'this is stupid and it isn't working, that other thing looks a lot more promising, let's try it'. Just don't depend on converting the masses to wanting liberty, because you never will. When they think of what it would be like to stand on their own two feet, without a powerful imaginary friend, they have panic attacks. The nanny state is a god to them, and sacrificing their independence to it keeps away their fear of all that...freedom.
ReplyDeleteVery few people are thinking about winning the battle against transnational socialism
As a separate problem, that's a nonissue. Invent a method to reject Socialism in one geographic region, and it will work anywhere. All we'd have to do is put it on television. Best product we ever exported were TV reruns where everybody was rich enough to have their own car, and criminals had civil rights. 'Want to be rich beyond the dreams of your ancestors? Simply have a freewheeling culture of making stuff and satisfying customers, like the USA used to and the Pacific rim learned from us.'