Notes on the Story
As a teenager I read about the 'philosophy of freedom'.
"No one outside ourselves can rule us inwardly. When we know this, we become free." - Buddha
"Freedom is the oxygen of the soul." - Moshe Dayan
"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves." - Abraham Lincoln
It seemed to me that freedom to choose our own way is essential to human dignity and the backbone of a moral society.
However:
Freedom of choice conflicts with modern democratic principles.
A majority vote for one way of doing things removes the freedom of a minority.
That's the democratic way. Will of the majority. 3 against 1. Might makes right...
And yet...
"The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened." - John F. Kennedy
The so-called Right claims people should be free to capitalise on opportunity to make a profit — as long as it does not directly violate the property rights of anyone else. But that’s where the Left claim that things get complicated... To whom does water belong to, that trickles down from the mountains? By what right can factories dump pollutants into our shared atmosphere? Tricky. And so we get into a 'political debate' about the degree of freedom of choice that should exist in a fair and just and beneficial society. Government grants. Bailouts. ‘Free’ services, be it healthcare, education, housing, and on it goes. So minds turn to rationalise conflicts of interest — and the 'good of the many' end up outweighing the rights of the few. This moral dilemma creates a social conundrum in which might makes right and control becomes the norm. Regulations. Legislations. To ‘protect the consumer’, so the theory goes. A bit of tax here. A bundle of tax there. Steal from Peter to give to Paul — because Paul needs it more. Built upon hundreds of years we end up with a convoluted social structure of force-backed taxation and regulation with those angels in Government who are meant to administer fairly to redistribute wealth and power to serve those less able or fortunate or educated or driven to succeed. We become a global social organism that parasitises itself.
Giving up our own freedoms to Politicians who promise to extract unearned assets from those who produce them — as long as they get distributed so we get a piece of the action. Dishonesty pervades every layer of society. We all need to make a buck. Innovation is hampered. The human spirit is downtrodden. Social justice warriors roam the streets looking for injustice to administer their self-entitled vengeance. And this is what’s now ‘politically correct’. The Government is supposed to, somehow, take care of citizens, with cutting edge services that cater to our needs. All in exchange for giving up our Freedom To Choose. And a lot of our hard earned money. Why can’t we see how destructive it is — sinking us ever deeper into a parasitic mode of being?
In 2011 I co-created a Facebook Page to advocate for individual freedom.
It said:
When is Force right? “Force is right --ONLY-- when used in Self-Defense against Individuals or Groups that have INITIATED FORCE against you or another Individual.” Therefore, the majority of Government is wrong and we will defend ourselves against it by dumping Politicians and other External Authorities who advocate the use of Initiatory Force.
***No Force, except in Self-Defense***
The ONLY fundamental moral principle on which to base the structure of a moral society is the FREEDOM TO CHOOSE. My body my choice. My property my choice. My money my choice. My time my choice. It’s the only way. And it requires that we REDUCE the operations of Government down to their bare minimum in order to adhere to and uphold that freedom to choose. Government should be nothing more (and nothing less) than the social administration of a legal system that protects the individuals freedom to choose. If you understand that part… then you only need to understand WHY this is soooooo important. But that seeks the impossible to fathom. The destruction caused at every level of society… every split second… for every single human being… in all of their micro-emotional experiences… all crushed, trampled on, ripped apart, melted away… never to be seen another way. How can anyone emotionally brook the benevolence that comes from truly protecting the freedom to choose? How can enough people understand with enough depth the horror of our situation and the immediacy of a complete revolution in human experience by reaching a tipping point in society when enough people influence politics to advocate and uphold our freedom to choose? I for one believe the necessary psychological shift can only come about via a technological flashpoint. That flashpoint will occur when people are literally enabled with their own freedom of choice to exit the corrupt political system. It will not occur through education. Trying to convince political advocates of the horror they create is futile, as history shows. But what is not futile, is the advance of technology that builds, piece by piece, a new social fabric based on person-to-person exchange. The Freedom to Choose will emerge out of the Freedom to Exchange. Exchange money. Exchange time. Exchange ideas. Exchange data. Exchange value. Politics will end when society has the Freedom to Exchange. And it’s coming faster than you might expect. If you dig what I’m saying, let’s connect, and find ways to exchange.
Here's a video that demonstrates the moral principle of No Force, Except In Self-Defence, and Freedom To Choose.
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