This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Guest Post: What Does Liberty Really Mean?
Submitted by David Galland of Casey Research,
For some time now – years actually – I have pondered the nature of liberty. Or more specifically, what liberty actually means to me. And to be extra clear, I am not talking about the meaning in abstract or philosophical terms, but tangibly – in much the same way I might answer if asked what my wife means to me.
The trigger for this entirely personal discourse comes from reading various articles and viewing various YouTube videos and speeches from self-styled champions of liberty (COL). There is even an entire conference, Mark Skousen's FreedomFest, dedicated to the topic.
Invariably, these well-meaning COL rail against "The Man" (something I do myself), accentuating their public angst by sharing stories of being molested by the TSA or otherwise inconvenienced by minions of the state. It is my contention that most of these individuals, and certainly the majority of "freedom-loving" Americans, don't actually understand the meaning of liberty, but rather give the matter little more than lip service.
And again, I don't mean liberty in an abstract way – like, say, "world peace" – but tangibly.
Now, before going on, tripping emotional wires as I do, I feel the need to quickly establish my bona fides on the topic. I start with the simple fact that with age, and 58 years old counts, comes perspective. In addition, unlike most of today's COL, I have actually been jailed for rioting against authority – at the naïve age of 14, as the result of actively participating in the toe-to-toe anti-war confrontations during the Oakland Induction Center Riots of the late 1960s.
In addition, as over-the-top as it now sounds, along with my now-departed friend and colleague of many years, Jim Blanchard, I spent many months assisting the RENAMO-led freedom fighters raise awareness in their fight against Mozambique's vicious dictatorship. The adventure ultimately ended up with us in a very tight spot under house arrest in neighboring Malawi, followed by a high-speed car chase with the Malawian secret police in hot pursuit.
I have been directly involved with prominent members of the freedom movement in the US as part and parcel of my business career since a very young age, including running the 1980 Libertarian Presidential Nominating Convention in Los Angeles at the request of my friend Ed Crane, the founder of the Cato Institute. Furthermore, I have been friends, business associates, or acquaintances with too many well-known COL to recount here, starting with my business partner of many years Doug Casey, but also Harry Browne, Milton Friedman, and even Ayn Rand (I arranged for and hosted her at her last public appearance before she died).
And finally, I would mention my involvement in helping to create La Estancia de Cafayate in a remote wine-growing region of Argentina, without question the largest and most successful community of largely libertarian-minded individuals on the planet.
All of which is to say that I'm not arriving to this discussion fresh off the back of a turnip truck.
So, what does liberty mean to me?
In the simplest and purest terms, it means being free to come and go as I please.
Of course it would be my strong preference to come and go without the charade and indignity of transportation security instituted by most nations these days (ironically, the "Land of the Free" being the worst of the lot). But, unlike some prominent COL, I don't make the mistake of conflating transiting airports with protesting against the inanity of transport security.
That's because if I wanted to mount a protest against TSA, I would do it in an organized fashion. Say, by arranging for a large and loud demonstration at whatever passes for TSA's headquarters, making sure that the media was there to provide coverage. I certainly wouldn't do it ad hoc without media present, on a day when I actually needed to travel from point A to point B.
After all, like trees falling in remote woods, if a protest happens and there's no media to record it, was there a protest?
The polar opposite to being free to come and go as one pleases, the essential tenet to my personal definition of liberty, is to be trapped in a jail cell. Been there, done that – and very much have no interest in doing it again.
Thus, I avoid engaging in activities where one of the possible outcomes is being arrested and jailed. For example, making angry displays when a TSA minion asks me to take off my shoes.
Now, I realize that the degradation of principles and justice in countries such as the US means that pretty much everyone breaks a law or three every day, but miscarriages of justice resulting in an innocent person being sentenced to jail (or gunned down) are statistically very rare. Yes, they happen – but so does getting struck by lightning. Thus, when I talk about acting in a fashion unlikely to lead to being locked up in a cage, I'm talking about playing simple odds.
And no, I don't need to be a cowering sheep to keep the odds of my being jailed near zero. Rather, I just need to take note of the laws of whatever land my feet are currently planted on and avoid tripping over the big stuff.
In the US, for example, walking around with a bag of pot in your pocket could lead to jail time. In Uruguay or Amsterdam or dozens of other countries, it's legal. So, when in the US – again, ironically still called "the Land of the Free" – I can manage without the pot. (Actually, I've done without pot for many decades; I'm just using this as an illustration.)
Failing to pay the legally proscribed amount of taxes is another easy way to end up in jail. As a US citizen, there's no denying I'm trapped in a tax regime I find abhorrent and counterproductive to the building of capital. That's a big disadvantage compared to many countries.
But am I willing to trade my liberty for the money I might be able to hide from the IRS? Hardly. That would be the equivalent of choosing the latter when confronted by a gun-wielding thug demanding my money or my life.
Does this mean I'm powerless against the institutionalized theft of taxation? Not at all.
It just means I have to work harder to uncover legal ways to minimize the tax bite, starting by hiring good counsel. And let's not forget, for the citizens of most countries, minimizing the tax burden is as simple as getting on a plane, as – unlike the Land of the Free – they don't tax non-resident citizens on worldwide income.
As for US citizens, if the issue is important enough to you, there are specific steps you can take to legally avoid the taxes altogether, by replacing the passport you carry in your pocket. It's not particularly quick or easy, but if paying less (no?) taxes is that important to you, then there are clear paths to accomplishing just that objective without risking the loss of your liberty.
I'm not making these comments cavalierly, but rather to point out hard facts about the world we live in.
So, freedom to come and go is the core principle of my personal liberty. What else?
Well, part of that freedom has to do with personal finances. Namely, you can have all the liberty in the world, but if you don't have the money necessary to actually travel, you probably aren't going to get very far… at least not in a fashion you might enjoy.
While there are countries such as North Korea where the government makes accumulating any wealth almost impossible (unless you are part of the dictator's inner circle), in most of the world, this aspect of life – call it "financial freedom" – has far more to do with a person's willingness to work hard than anything else.
That said, I readily acknowledge that governments everywhere are a constant weight on the entrepreneur's back. Yet, simply looking at the facts as they are, I personally know dozens of people, here in the US – and in places like Argentina, where the government makes doing business an order of magnitude more difficult – who, through their own creativity and exertions, are fabulously successful.
As something of a tangent, while generalizations are rarely useful, in my direct experience many individuals who paint themselves as libertarians have trouble coming up with the proverbial two nickels to rub together. Doug Casey and I have discussed this on more than one occasion, and I don't think either of us has a good answer. If pressed to it, I would hypothesize that it has to do with a latent inability to work as part of a team, something libertarians tend not to be very good at but which is often required to launch a successful career. In support of that hypothesis, look no further than the reality that the Libertarian party has never been able to mount an effective national political campaign.
Back to the point, despite the government's meddling, financial freedom is imminently attainable for individuals who focus on their work and who put in steady efforts at increasing their personal knowledge (including learning how to handle your money, once you have some). Of course, succeeding may not be easy... it rarely is, though it can be.
While I'm sure there are additional nuances to my personal definition of liberty that I could mention, the big point is that as long as I am free to come and go as I please and have the capability to build the wealth I need to do so, then I have pretty much all the liberty I need to enjoy my limited lifetime on this planet. After all, with those two conditions in place, if one place becomes too unfree for my taste, I can move on.
"Wait a second!" some of you may find yourselves thinking indignantly.
What about the wholesale trampling of the US Constitution in recent decades? What about the militarization of the domestic police force here in the US? What about the loss of freedom in the Land of the Free?
I might respond with a sad shake of the head and by mouthing words such as "tragic," or "damn shame," or even "it's outrageous, criminal even." And there's no question it's all of those things and more. The idea of America in its youth was amazing, especially considering the era in which it was birthed. But that idea has been so diluted at this point to be almost meaningless… here in the United States.
And therein lies the importance of being able to travel freely. You see, unlike many, I refuse to define myself by the artificial borders that were determined solely by an accident of birth. Why should I?
Do I relate to the idea of America? Of course; what thinking person wouldn't? But during these philosophical Dark Ages for freedom in the United States, what practical purpose does clinging onto that idea serve?
To use an overused comparison, what practical purpose would it have served for the head of a Jewish family during Hitler's Germany to stand on a street corner handing out anti-Nazi pamphlets? The obvious answer is "none." It would have just resulted in the ultimate loss of liberty – his death and likely that of everyone he loved.
Personally, I look at the Americans and I see a people who have been very effectively brainwashed, or who simply have given in to the entirely human tendency to shuffle unquestioningly onto the path of least resistance and let themselves go.
I see a people who, on a wholesale basis, have consciously or unconsciously decided to trade the idea of America for the false security of a totalitarian state.
While there are voices in the woods, such as Ron Paul, that warn of the consequences, I'm trying to focus today on hard realities. And the hard reality is that if you were to assemble all 300 million US citizens in an auditorium to listen to well-presented arguments for less vs. more government and then ask for a show of hands, the vast majority would raise their hands in favor of the current system that has the state deeply involved in pretty much every aspect of the economy and society at large.
Skeptical? Then ask yourself what percentage of the audience would raise their hands in favor if asked the following:
"How many of you want Social Security to remain intact?"
"How many think the government should subsidize health care?"
"How many think the rich should pay more taxes?"
Or ask your questions in the negative, and watch how few hands stick in the air.
"How many of you think the Food and Drug Administration should be abolished?"
"How many of you think recreational drugs, including cocaine and heroin, should be legalized?"
"How many of you think the Department of Education should be shuttered?"
"How many of you think that the tax credit for mortgages should be canceled?"
At the end of the exercise, the level of support for the very same tangled body of state-controlled handouts, regulations and central economic planning now choking the last gasps of life out of the body politic would be obvious and overwhelming.
The practical point I am trying to make here is that the COL are fighting against a very entrenched and increasingly dangerous public mindset. Some like to hearken back to the days of the revolution when prominent men in the community risked it all to overthrow the British. I would contend that the situation today is totally different. Then it was a foreign enemy daily adding salt to the open wound of what was essentially an occupation by marching troops around and passing highly unpopular and often arbitrarily punitive laws. Today the enemy (of true freedom) is within. In fact, the nation is overrun by them… they dominate in most every community, in most businesses and even in most families.
And your fellow citizens don't want what the COL are selling. Sure, there are a fair number – for instance, members of the Tea Party – who might be sympathetic on a largely abstract level, but drill down into the specifics by asking questions such as those above and you'll quickly find just how far off the grid you are.
So what's the point?
- Face the facts – free no more. Contrary to popular delusions, the United States is no longer the Land of the Free – either in terms of its judicial system or its market structure.
Rather, it is the land of the paranoid, the state-dependent, supporters of Guantanamo and permawar… with the highest incarceration rates in the world, militarized police and… and… and…
That said, it's also the land of the convenient shopping, relatively inexpensive food and housing and trains that run on time. Provided you pay attention not to trip over the big legal no-nos, you can enjoy a very high standard of living (though, in fairness, that's true of most of the world).
If, on the other hand, you don't think you can stay out of trouble here or in any country whose government is becoming a danger to residents, then go somewhere else. Or, to quote my friend and partner Doug Casey, "Stop thinking like a serf."
- Define what it is you want from your life. And I am speaking about this life, not some promised afterlife. Do you really want to put yourself on the front line of a battle that the vast majority of the populace wouldn't support you in?
If the answer is "yes," that you are willing to lose your liberty – the ability to travel freely – in support of the cause, then I can only wish you well. I hope at the end of your life, which in the US could come quicker than you'd like, you'll have found satisfaction and purpose in the struggle. Just be sure you are clear on your objectives and are willing to accept the consequences.
Of course, I'll continue to support the champions of liberty here in the US, even though I think they are tilting against windmills for the most part. And I will almost certainly find occasion to speak against the totalitarian tide myself, albeit in terms sufficiently tame to avoid leading to a loss of my liberty.
Far more important, as it relates to my personal liberty, I'll continue the process of diversifying my life between political jurisdictions so that if and when things in my native country become unbearably oppressive – and therefore an active risk to my ability to freely go about my business – I can bid it goodbye.
Call me a coward, but in my view it's far better to switch than to fight, especially when the vast majority of my fellow citizens wouldn't know the true meaning of freedom if you served it to them on a silver plate.
- 15354 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -


TSA Demonstration ... "I would do it in an organized fashion" ... You better do it soon before they unionize, because after that, no media would come or care and you would be at the mercy of union thugs in "a high-speed car chase with the union secret police in hot pursuit"
You see, unlike many, I refuse to define myself by the artificial borders that were determined solely by an accident of birth. Why should I? – David Galland
Watching over one’s personal freedom – freedom of movement and freedom to choose where one shall live, et cetera – on this planet will be available to you only if the men around you allow it. And should they not, your freedom is finished in an instant.
Freedom must be fought for; it must be wrestled from the world; it must be procured by effort and maintained by vigilance and, yes, by working with others to provide for its longevity.
That working with others is what caused the Founders of this nation to set up a geographical area where they could establish and defend their freedoms. And place and geography do matter because within the borders of this particular nation a specific code had been established with the single objective of establishing freedom.
The actual “hard reality” is that America and Americans are not finished. There is such a strong hunger for those permanent things that established our freedom that it behooves those of us who cherish it to now fight for it…and not give up on it and walk away.
If others will stand with us to fight for freedom, we must stand with them as well.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee. ---John Donne
Yes, but what does liberty mean to Isaiah Berlin? COL x 2.
www.tradewithdave.com
There was a guy in Iceland who collected data to use for diagrams to show connections between companies and various criminals, mostly bankers and politicians. He had a website called littlaisland.net
Here is a example of his work http://blog.pressan.is/larahanna/2009/08/21/finnur-er-fundinn-og-thvilik...
Shortly after he was finished and opened up his site he shut it down and posted the message "If you cant beat them, join them". Unfortunetly this is quite common, the anger and need for justice is shortlived and usually looses out to a fat pay check, comfort and security, at least until the next fiasco.
There was another website for activists, Eyjan.is. It was sold to the elite, all smart people vanished, like the data base of information who had been collected for years. Mostly politicians and trolls stop by to vomit on the sterile and dead threads you find there today.
Everything seems to be going back to the same as before. Elections are coming up in the spring and the party that was kicked out of parliament will return after those elections, most likely teaming up with its favorite side kick, the Progressive party.
When that happens, all the pending criminal investigations by the police and special prosecutor will be sped up considerably, new people hired and equipment bought, like shredders.
I would expect the same people in parliament, theft convictions and obvious and proven bribe allegations will not stop anyone from running either, or the politic parties from accepting them as candidates.
Soon there will be a new crisis, natural resources and valuable assets must be sold to special friends of the elite to "save the economy", followed with a nice inflation spike to steal what is left of peoples assets, like realestate where the majority of mortages are indexed to inflation.
One thing you can bank on these days is corruption and greed, mixed with arrogance and dangerous stupidity.
Socialism is the ideology, enforced by government, that we will all be better off by living at each other's expense. Anyone who is familair with the Ten Commandments will see how socialism must violate the Commandments that forbid coveting and theft. That we will all be better off is a lie as well.
In fact even a quick reading of Ephesians 5:1-7 will show that a covetous person cannot receive the free gift of salvation, nor can anyone who approves of that coveting. These are pretty strong words but then socialism kills the body and the soul in many ways as the poor people in the Sovet Union found out.
One way to be free is to decline to accept a benefit that government funds by taking from someone else. Some government benefits are mandatory. However, you don't have to apply for food stamps or any other "benefit" that is voluntary. You can stop picking up your unemployment check after you have received what you paid in. If nobody signed up for a benefit, government couldn't sell that particular tyranny. Sadly, look at how many people will decline to accept "free money", which comes at a horrible price.
Go sell crazy someplace else. Your propaganda ignores the fact that people gotta get by. The elites are draining the wealth out of our economy and leaving a shell and your suggestion is just to go hungry.
Socialism is the ideology of the hunter-gatherer mindset that we can graze off the productive people that nature creates.
It's an adaptation of grazing off the productive fruit trees that mother nature creates.
Adaptive economics at work.
And so, socialism wins: others are pedators towards our income and assets, so we must do likewise? First, there is a lot you can do to remove your income and assets from their grasp. Government hasn't figured out a way to tax the tomatoes we grow.
But a free man does not take from others what he doesn't want them to take from him. If someone took $100 from you, is the moral response to take $100 from someone else? Certainly not. Worse, government takes $100 from everyone, and borrows another $40 from China. It then offers a $90 benefit to everyone. And our response is to fall all over each other to get what is ours? Stopping socialism starts with just saying no to playing its game.
True.
My mind isn't even settled on whether or not I would, given the opportunity, 'steal' $100 back from a thief that stole $100 from me. Probably.
You will truly know what liberty is .... when you no longer have it !
David Galland sounds like a sell out, if you can't beat em, join em, sort of guy.
Here's the problem with the system. "Financial freedom" acquired from the debt slavery of others isn't work, it's thievery. Guys like you fail to see the connection between public debts and private fortunes.
Honestly, I'd have more respect for you, Dave if you just quoted J.R, Ewing:
"Once you give up your integrity, the rest is a piece of cake."
Well said, mchugh. This is the way it has always been. In some cases, you just had your ass "taken" by some foreign force, but the result was similar. Your own energy, economic energy, was put to service of what ever great scheme was in effect at that time. "Kingdoms" and "Governments" are differnt forms of a similar construct.
What was supposed to be different about America, was that you could fight to be free of that and to maintain a status of libery as an individual. We're seeing that go down the tubes...and fast these last 20 years.
I submit another way of looking at liberty: "Render unto Ceasar, what is Ceasar's, and render unto the Lord what is the Lord's" (can't recall the exact reference in the new testament).
Don't mean to start a theological debate here, but the idea that a person is owed some form of liberty is ridiculous. Liberty is a choice. Something to be developed, sacrificed for and carried out in a person's day to day affairs. Yes, the US Government that was to provide for the unfettered opportunity of liberty, has in fact in recent history "fettered" it pretty damn well.
If you do not think there is a "God", then your liberty will be measured in material, physical things. If you do, then the idea of Liberty becomes a wide open possibility. A ruler or government can no more take your integrity and true liberty, than can they reach out and re-arrange the stars. You have to cede it to them...or keep it and pay a price...sometimes a hefty one.
But if enough like minded people prize and keep integrity and liberty, the ruler is overthrown...eventually..therefore allowing the spread of liberty and the increase in value of integrity. This, alas, is what sadly our current government (and popular culture) is increasingly against.
Integrity is rare. In art, in finance, in trade and in mundane human relations. It seems to be vanishing.
Sad.
I think it's more a cognitive problem than anything. I don't think many Americans would deliberately sacrifice their children's future, but everytime we say "We need this, but I can't pay for it!" that's exactly what we do.
"It just means I have to work harder to uncover legal ways to minimize the tax bite, starting by hiring good counsel."
Prisoners have to hire good counsel...not free men.
I longed Thomas Jefferson along time ago...
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered...I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies... The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."
It's called Fascism Bitchez...Get use to it.
The question how much freedom we can reasonably claim is possibly as old as humanity, and can never be finally solved. I guess most people would vote for as much liberty as possible. But there is always the issue of safety and fairness. Take one topic: economy. It is a fact that free market economy aka capitalism creates always inequality, and moreover, always puts some people in a situation, where they can no longer care for their basic needs. Like health care. Now what do you do? One the one hand you can say, well this is freedom, the freedom to become a homeless person and dying because you can't affort medication. For me that would not be liberty but barbarism. Liberty is nice and well, but what good does it do, when the "man eats man" society makes a large portion of them suffering and poor? Or how much worth is the liberty to have guns, when the cost is the life of thousands and thousands? Liberties must always be balanced with responsibility and duty. That is not tyranny, that is reason and fairness.
That some regimes abuse the limitation of liberties is no argument to give people limitless freedom for everything. Take healt care. Of course taking away money from every cititzen to create a fund to care for the health of the poor is a limitation of the liberty to do with your money as you please. But IMVPO it is a reasonable limitation, because the right to have your health being looked after is a human right that outweights the right of personal profit, as long as everyone's input is reasonable and balanced. Some projects necessary for a fair and humane civilization cost money and not everyone is willing to contribute out of generosity or wisdom. It is thus the duty of the state to distribute they money to give all people a basic humane life. The common good is more important than the selflish greed, because the common good is the fundament, the civilization upon which we stand, and it is a matter of moral and humanity to assure that nobody lives in poverty and inhumane conditions.
" the right to have your health being looked after is a human right"
Am I reading this correctly?
I'm probably out of touch or maybe the author is using a bit of hyperbole.
Sorry, double post.
Handbags made from Marc Jacobs Outlet designer house are really very distinguished and unique designed. And the Marc By Marc Jacobs Outlethandbags are with premium fabrics and good crafts made which would be timeless for your daily carrying.
Handbags made from Marc Jacobs Outlet designer house are really very distinguished and unique designed. And the Marc By Marc Jacobs Outlethandbags are with premium fabrics and good crafts made which would be timeless for your daily carrying.
Handbags made from Marc Jacobs Outlet designer house are really very distinguished and unique designed. And the Marc By Marc Jacobs Outlethandbags are with premium fabrics and good crafts made which would be timeless for your daily carrying.
I'd HATE to meet the writer of this article. He is a self-centred, shameless, two-faced, backbone-less piece of fake libertianism!
To him, nothing is worth fighting for. For him it's as good as it gets to be the slimiest toad that ever lived.
The ultimate survivor maybe, but with very few human qualities.
None of us are free, not even him. If not now, then very soon.
http://sidtu.org/SID-UNION-FILES/SID-PDF-DOCS/RFID-SID-21112007.pdf
Funky,
I agree with your sentiment. My first instinct is to call him a pussy, except, if we take him at his word (that he is on the "front lines of liberty" - then I'd imagine he has to be very careful of how vocal he gets.
That said, if he's going to give up he should slip away quietly (like a pussy). I would hope he'll pop back up if the time comes for "COL's" to (ahem) re-establish liberty.
What does liberty mean?
Age old question. Naive reasoning as response!
Power construct of corporate america; now global pax americana, didn't occur overnight. It occurred over a century : the 20th.
We have seen the empire morph. So this wake up call of Rip Van Winkle is a little late and very shallow. Freedom to come and go should apply to ALL citizens of the world, not just americans. There lies the problem and its global!
American 99% are now becoming just anybodies, like third world sheeple in the inexorable vice of oligarchy economic logic; aka outsourcing blues and unemployment queues!
To swim in the awesome currents of the world's planetary conundrum of finite world, inundated in electronic money that are "assets" to some "liabilities" to others and sham money to most of us, is a little more complex than swimming in the puddle of one's own private swimming pool. Understanding that makes us realise we are now part of debased "human assets", and there are no national exceptions (except maybe oil city state oligarchies).
This article does not address any of these real issues. it abides to that perennial tradition of converting the individual's free will expression into simple navel gazing.
"Get yourself some good abdos by practising the techniques of the afterburn effect."
By becoming free to come and go in a despotic world where people drown by numbers, is hardly the right level of understanding the general problem. Having good abdos but nothing to eat...
I think thats the spiel here : every man for himself and good abdos for everyone!
Wonderful world! Viva individual freedom of useful idiots of the new world order!
I stay hungry for better logic!
Liberty means to me is a round shining thing weighs one ounce.
So, when push comes to shove the author of this article will simply dive into his rabbit hole when the revolution starts. Nice. What a chicken shit. I am willing to put my life on the line and fight against tyranny. The author comes out of his rabbit hole to speak about how we are losing or lost freedom and then scampers back to his hole after he is finished. Ummm, Mr. Author, why did you even bother to write this piece for us then? It's people like you who will rat out the freedom fighters for your own little hole of freedom. What a piece of shit you are.
"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose"
- Kris Kristoferson -
When you are working until December to pay just the interest on your tax burden, remember that you were this stupid.
Arm the old people who got robbed of their pensions & homes! And make a phone book for them...