IN PURSUIT OF LIBERTY

We need liberty to think, to plan, to create, and to fulfill our potential. Liberty is as much a requirement of our psychological nature, as food and air are requirements of our biological nature. Without liberty, economics stagnate, culture deteriorates, science declines, and we lose our humanity.

The American Declaration of Independence expresses the value of liberty well when it says:

We hold these truths to be self-evident. That all (human beings) are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness... Liberty is so powerful and important that even brutal dictatorships invoke it. They often justify their denial of basic human rights by claiming they are promoting "higher" freedoms, such as security, equality and the common good. However, the fruits of tyranny always remain the same: poverty, ignorance, and brutality. Tyranny always fails because it is coercive, and coercion is incompatible with human nature.

Liberty is the ability to control your own mind, body and life, without interference by others. Liberty, is one of the primary social conditions necessary for a moral and practical way of life.

Liberty is also the recognition by members of society that to be happy and prosper, people must not coerce others. Force should be used only in self-defense.

Liberty includes the right to acquire, control, use and dispose of property. Without the right to property, most other rights are impossible. Without the right to own computers, printing presses, and cameras, there is no freedom of information. Without the right to own bibles and build churches, there is no freedom of religion. Without the right to earn a living and own a house, there is no security and no right to life.

Coercion impedes prosperity, security and happiness. People commonly denounce coercion committed by individuals within society. Thieves, murderers, and other thugs are generally imprisoned to protect society. Unfortunately there is a form of coercion which is not always recognized as immoral: coercive government.

A government is simply a group of men and women. Governments should be evaluated like any other group. If governments are created by the consent of their members, are non-coercive, and protect rights, they can be viewed as beneficial. But if governments are imposed without the consent of the governed and violate basic human rights, they should be viewed as destructive and harmful, and steps should be taken to check their power.

The reason governments are formed is to protect their members from domestic and foreign violence. A good government prohibits violence, protects individual liberty, and enacts rules which are compatible with human nature. A bad government disregards individual rights, uses violence against peaceful citizens, and creates legal requirements which are destructive of lives and property.

Our index to measure governmental coercion is its method of taxation. If the government takes 50% of your income in taxes, like they do in the United States, you are spending 1/2 of your time working for the government. There exists the threat of real violence in the form of prison if you refuse to pay what the government demands of you. Of course, taxes pay for many useful goods and services, such as national defense, police, roads, and education. Unfortunately, financing even socially useful services through taxation is inefficient and wasteful. Imposing bureaucracy between citizens and producers makes producers answerable to government rather than citizens.

Government coercion is a threat to liberty. Increasingly, Western governments are censoring books, films, and even art and music. Citizens are required to pay for government schools, even if they teach values that are in conflict with many of its citizens. Violent crusades are being mounted against casual drug users, political non- conformists, and other unpopular groups. It is time to check the power of government and reclaim our inalienable right to liberty. We must demand the following three things from our government:

1. Respect for individual rights and civil liberties. Every free society requires a strong social ethic of individual liberty. This ethic must be followed by government, and should be codified in common law and a bill of rights. In a free society, the individual, not the state, decides whether to practice a religion, which school to attend, what medical insurance to buy, what drugs to ingest, whether to own a firearm, and how to make love.

2. Individual ownership and respect for private property. Individuals must be free to keep and spend their own income. Social services such as courts, roads, and education, can and should be diverse, competitive, and financed through user fees and charity.

3. Voluntary association. In a free society, individuals may gather, do business with, worship, and peacefully congregate, where and when they will. And, Democracy is far superior to tyranny. It gives, allows choice, and though difficult, change is possible. But democracy is not liberty. Democracy means that some government officials are selected by voters. Popular election does not guarantee that elected officials will protect liberty. That is up to those who elected the officials in the first place.

Now is the time to throw off the last chairs of coercive and authoritarian rule before we become even more shackled by those who would lead us. To live a life of liberty is the only worthwhile way to live, and it is to that that I and others have pledged our lives, all we possess, and our sacred honor.