Five years ago, a call for more liberty on Independence Day: "Liberty is going to have to mean letting other people do things you don't approve of. If you want to smoke dope and your neighbor wants to smoke cigarettes and the guy across the street wants to give a gun to his boyfriend as an engagement present before their lavish church wedding,  nobody can be telling the others what they can and can't do. Respect everyone's privacy and maybe you'll end up treating everyone with respect."

Read the whole thing after the jump.

A new declaration for Independence Day

By Edward Cone
News & Record
6-29-03

Two hundred twenty seven years ago on Friday, Americans declared their independence. I'm suggesting that this Friday we declare it again.

As we celebrate the freedoms already won, let's celebrate as well our coming freedom from the tyranny of politics as usual and the yoke of corporate infotainment culture. Let's commit ourselves to becoming a nation of grown-ups, with an eye for accounting, a respect for complexity, and a well-developed sense of humor. It's time for the emerging libertarian majority to make itself known.

That's libertarian with a small "l" -- an ideal of personal freedom, not a political party. Parties serve their own ends, that's one reason for the rebellion. We don't necessarily need new parties, we just need to remind the ones we've got who's boss.

My sense of this libertarian majority is based on no polling. That's part of its strength, it doesn't have to be validated by focus groups. Liberty is a founding principle of the country. It's that simple. If you need anecdotal evidence that people actually want to be free, start listening to the vox populi making itself heard on weblogs. Or better yet, write a weblog of your own.

I propose that the motto of this movement be the Thoreauvian chestnut, "That government is best which governs least." Or maybe we should quote Douglas Adams: "We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!" Whatever. The plan is to legalize almost everything and let adults be adults.

Liberty is going to have to mean letting other people do things you don't approve of. If you want to smoke dope and your neighbor wants to smoke cigarettes and the guy across the street wants to give a gun to his boyfriend as an engagement present before their lavish church wedding,  nobody can be telling the others what they can and can't do. Respect everyone's privacy and maybe you'll end up treating everyone with respect.

A lot of energy is spent arguing about issues of personal choice, stuff the government really doesn't need to be regulating. It benefits politicians and the media to keep re-fighting the culture wars, but it distracts them from more important things -- which is one reason those fires are continually stoked. Without the covering enfilade from ideologues on all sides, it should be harder for our public servants to lie to us.

The libertarian consensus is not a utopian movement. It's a mindset, not a policy, vague but recognizable on sight --  yet it has to be grounded in reality to work. A starting point is the fact that personal freedom demands personal responsibility and self discipline. This isn't about abdicating moral authority, it's about privatizing it. At our house we home school the kids, we just outsource the academics.

Principles endure, but needs and resources change, so solutions under the libertarian consensus need to be dynamic instead of static. Entrenched interests, served by both major  political parties, are dug in against liberty. We need to root them out without dismissing the various good ends toward which they set off before getting trapped in their trenches.

Part of the dynamic worldview is accepting the law of unintended consequences. That's key to its counterutopianism. Less regulation might lead to more litigation, for example. Ending the Drug War would save lots of money that is now spent on  interdiction, enforcement, and incarceration, but it will cost money, too, to invest in healthcare for drug users and public education about the consequences of drug use.

The libertarian consensus doesn't mean government spending and social programs are going to go away. Responsibility for yourself does not preclude responsibility to your neighbors and nation. People want to be left alone, but that's an amorphous concept. There's "left alone," as in, adults who aren't hurting anyone else should be left alone, and there's "left alone," as in, left alone to die, or left alone without any real opportunity to join the productive populace, or left alone when your job goes to Vietnam.

Any attempts to change the current system will get you labeled if not libeled. So what. Liberal and conservative are characterizations that serve the powerful. I feel reduced by them, not defined. The libertarian consensus is the new counterculture, a motivating force behind the second superpower emerging on the Web, the future. Let's celebrate it on the Fourth of July, and then get to work on making it happen.

© News & Record 2008

Comments

[Roch101]

Nice. I missed that one in '03. Thanks for the reprint.

[John D. Young]

Another fine point in your Independence Day article -- "Liberal and conservative are characterizations that serve the powerful. I feel reduced by them, not defined."

We certainly have plenty of 20th and 21st Century examples to show how the Left is every bit as delusional and violent as the Right. Yet we still appear to remain very self-righteous and supportive of our political delusions.

[Paul Elledge]

Ed,

Then you realize, don't you, that you've got to stay out of my wallet as well, right?

[Billy The Blogging Poet]

Ed,
You shine in this piece. Great writing.

Too bad it will be lost to the likes of Paul Elledge who seems to think the definition of liberty means getting to keep every filthy penny he ever earns.

[Paul Elledge]

Billy,

What is the definition of liberty, then?

[Beelzebubba]

Who would be the best steward of the dirty filthy pennies I earned? The institution that has already devoured the seed corn of its constituents? An institution which has already taxed the earnings of my unborn grandchildren? Thats like giving a drunk adolescent the keys to a car. "The sheep are happier of themselves, than under the care of wolves"~Thomas Jefferson

[Beelzebubba]

Once there was a group of marauding rogues with no interest in honest work. When ever they felt like it they would ride into town, steal groceries, clothing, fill their pockets with loot and ride out. They would live off the plunder until it was gone then ride back into town and replunder. This went on until they realized that their exploits resembled work. One said, "This is getting difficult. They're starting to shoot back and some of us have serious injuries." Then one had an idea.."Let's just strut into town and stay put! Throw up some buildings for a hangout-call it Town Hall. We'll clean up, shave, have some suits made, look all bona fide and get our own names on our own ballots. Then..we'll levy something..and we'll call it a TAX. We'll tell the townspeoplen- and call them TAXpayers- that as long as they pay on time, fill out the right forms correctly, just like we tell them-they will go unpunished. We'll start the levy low and raise it slowly so they wont think it's worth a fight. We'll use the levy to provide a few services- like schools and courts- at 2-3 times what they could it procure for themselves-so they will think they are getting something for the money. They will love it. We will call ourselves 'public servants' and the lumpenprols will think we're doing it for them. Like a frog in a pot, they will not realize they are being boiled alive until they see their own skin floating beside them. In a few years we'll be taxing half of their earnings and they will be filling out forms only we understand!"