Previous

Contents

Next

There's Still a Place for Everyone
by Paul Bonneau
2.paulbx1@dfgh.net

Attribute to The Libertarian Enterprise

In "The March of the Medical Morons", El Neil writes,

"Occasionally some assert that a possibility exists for strictly voluntary collectives within a libertarian culture. Certainly no real libertarian would ever attempt to prevent their establishment. But the fundamental assumptions of socialism and anti-socialism with regard to the individual, to the group, and to the relationship between them are antithetical.

The Obamas and Pelosis of the world don't give a rusty fuck about your wellbeing."

I believe he misses the point here.

The point is that, unlike the various statist worlds, in a free world there is a place for everyone. This is a huge advantage a free world has over the other kind. Let's not just toss that advantage away!

Statist people range from complete control freaks like Pelosi, to "Suzy Soccermom", who while not particularly controlling personally, has been indoctrinated into thinking that control is necessary. Believe it or not, there is a place in a free world for all of these people!

We need Suzy to know there is a place for her. In many cases Suzy will eventually grow out of her indoctrination and discover freedom is not so scary after all, once examples exist for her to see. But even if she doesn't, all she needs do is locate herself in a community where an adequate (to her) amount of control exists. Many if not most Suzys of the world don't feel that need to have others everywhere controlled, but only those in her local vicinity.

Well, what about the Pelosis? How can there be a place for them?

Just as every sadist needs a masochist, every control freak needs people to control. There will undoubtedly be a good supply of the latter, of people who feel the need to be controlled. Perhaps a shrinking supply as time goes on, but they will be there. Pelosi will no doubt be mayor of Statist City.

Will she be happy with such a relatively small prize? No. She and her ilk want to rule the world. I did not say everyone would be perfectly happy in a free world; that's obviously impossible. In fact it would be indicative of no freedom at all, as for example with Levin's This Perfect Day. I just said there would be a place for even such as Pelosi. A place that most third parties would find reasonable.

One of the largest deterrents to revolution (be it in thinking or in reality) is the worry that there is no place for the individual in question, in the new society. "Will I end up homeless, or hanging from some lamp post?" If people understand a truly free society means they can have what they prefer, at least locally, and that they need not face major disruption of their worldview, this will vastly improve freedom's chances. Let's get behind this notion, not disparage it.

If freedom is as good as we think it is, many of these people will eventually give up these statist crutches and move to communities where they can be truly free with the rest of us. Or their children will.

Of course the problem of actual war crimes, not just "control", comes up, with people like Pelosi. Could it be that her place in a free world, is hanging from a lamp post? It may at some point come down to the question of pardoning the criminals in order to get to freedom. I'm glad I will never have to be in the position of deciding this. In fact I don't see how it can be decided, because the usual concept of "pardoning" someone means a government to issue the pardon! But again, most of the folks we have to convince are not war criminals, so they should have no worries there.

Help Support TLE by patronizing our advertisers and affiliates.
We cheerfully accept donations!