My Expedition To Liberty

For as far back as I can remember, I've been strongly anti-political. Mostly because of a passionate distaste for anything to do with people, their internal and external conflicts, their weird idiosyncrasies, and especially their emotional adherence to logically conflicted ideas. Of course, I spent my time studying science and engineering, where I thought I might be able to escape political maneuverings.

During my college years, one of my dormmates strongly encouraged me to read Ayn Rand. So in one week-long bout of depression caused by feelings of inadequacy when comparing myself to the smart individuals in my major, I read Atlas Shrugged. It took the entire week. John Galt's speech alone took at least 3 of those hours. By the time that I reached the end of the tale, a new perspective had taken hold in my mind.

Rand spun a straightforward story about the economic consequences of political behavior. She demonstrated how the motivations and incentives of people operating under collectivism doom themselves to equality in poverty. The tome contains many examples of how decisions made via political favoritism fail in comparison to the evidence-based resource allocation that takes place under profiteering capitalists.

From Atlas I gently moved over into objectivism, but never became passionately committed to the philosophy. Incongruous with my desire for a simple black and white view of the world and people in it, I found that objectivism spoke with too much assurance. I felt its adherents had a religion with Rand as their deceased goddess. Also, they practically worshiped intellectual property, which I could not brook after having followed the DeCSS case about DVD decryption in the late 1990's.

So, after navigating the shoals of selfishness espoused by Rand, I drifted aimlessly for a few years. I disengaged from anything remotely related to politics. I acquired a stable job working in a government lab, and stood by as my soul languished from a lack of technical challenge to my skills.  But I saw, in countless examples, large and small, the waste of bureaucracy.

Finally, my soul had been taxed enough, and I left for graduate school. For the first year I devoted extracurricular time to atheism and an attempt to understand religious thought. I finally learned that (a) logic does not convince anyone because (b) devotion fulfills social and emotional psychological needs. I discovered that my pursuit of a world view, with internal logical consistency and compatibility with the evidence I see and read about, makes me abnormal.

Once I finally admitted that I, no matter how educated I became on the topic, I would remain unable to convince the world to give up their belief systems, I permitted myself to become distracted with education in my major. I also read about economics, from small celebrities such as Peter Schiff and Doug Casey. Through these folk, I again discovered political philosophy. Again, with the same free-market economic foundations espoused by Rand.

Inevitably, I read Rothbard. He captivated my attention with direct, clear, and amusing statements about the nature of government. His writing captivated my attention with a underlying grandiose story of good, represented by human action under economic restraints, verses evil, represented by heavyweight government. He consistently and passionately argued for the individual verses the mob. How could I not route for underdog with him? He took me from liberty for the individual to freedom for all.

Then came Walter Block, and his hate for the state, and Tom Woods with his average joe appeal, and Jeffrey Tucker with his examples of the little things that government does to make our lives dirtier and dingier. Finally, David Friedman, who has shown, speculated, and documented more examples of systems alternative to government than any other author I've read so far.

The writings and speeches of these folk, with their willingness to identify the evils of the state, their ability to consistently offer a position out of the mainstream, their demonstration of the intellectual effort and stamina which that takes, and their welcoming, but analytically critical, attitude have become my mental staple. I may have drifted through Rand on the road to liberty, but these folk give me a bedrock.

In thanks to them, and their knowledge, I now give back in what manner I can. I attend libertarian events, both because I enjoy like-minded company and because I want to show bodily support. I write in promotion of liberty on my blog. Mostly pointing out the ways in which government interference cost everyone like a thousand clippings from the paper dollars that represent ones income, but always to promote the idea that freedom, the ability of people to work out problems on their own, yields better successes. When my friends and coworkers point out something unjust in the world, I can always find a government tentacle that created it.

Finally, I recently learned to promote agorism and individual economic independence from government. I'm privately working, and advocating, ways to escape taxation, so that I can help others to give up their devotion to the rulers, lay down their economic chains, and live free, with all the responsibility and respect due a actualized adult.

Overcome Stockholm Syndrome

Often in debates with non-anarchists, my expectations of a free, peaceful, spontaneously ordered society are met with great skepticism. I attribute this lack of imagination to the government indoctrination camps we are all forced through as defenseless children.

For example, in high school I partook in an AP Government course of United States History. For those not familiar with the Advanced Placement program, it's a statist invention that allows the more gifted students to take a course during high school followed with a test that counts for college credit, provided you receive a high enough score. I passed all of the AP tests I took except the government one.

At the time, the subject of government, particularly the lineage of Presidents, did not interest me. Now, the subject interests me in the same way that the gruesome carnage of a vehicular accident (somehow these always occur on government roads) attracts passing motorists. That is, I'm interested in government's numerous failures, inefficiencies, and manufactured emergencies. Fortunately, I can gorge my macabre attention with any daily news program. That's a market service!

But why would the high school, or more accurately the AP program, force knowledge of US history down my gullet? Instead of say, China or India, which both have 100 times longer history than the United States. They claim that it's important for me to know my heritage, but at the time I was more preoccupied with the future (and mostly still am). Yet, they didn't actually show me lessons that have ramifications today.

For example, did you know that all of the US Presidents that fought against central banking, or that tried to reduce its power have been assassinated? Is that coincidence or conspiracy? And it doesn't even have to be conspiracy, but merely self-interest. All it would take is a single individual with questionable ethics out of the affected group. Have you ever known a banker to willingly part from other people's money?

Or what about the introduction of the income tax? My parents and grandparents don't recall living without this kind of wealth slavery, but there was a time when America was a prosperous land without income tax. George Washington himself led an army against protesters objecting to an excise tax on Whiskey. (A tale beautifully recounted by Rothbard in When the Feds First Attacked the Americans) There was a time when nobody would take the job of tax collector because of social opprobrium.

I was taught to revere Abraham Lincoln as a political god that help to keep the union in tact. Whereas I now think of him as an exemplar politician, raping the constitution, violating human rights by suspending habeas corpus and imprisoning reporters, needlessly calling the country into war against itself, and stomping the basic sovereign right of secession. He even formed a special praetorian guard with initials SS. Lincoln is America's Hitler.

Ok, so the US government has an interest in all children learning a history approved by that same government. Any wonder these anti-government lessons were left out? Even in the "advanced" program I was fed mostly positive images of government, with outcomes of war written by the winners. An endless justification of criminally destructive behavior!

Also, my school didn't have any course with actually questioned the necessity of government. I was never introduced to Rothbard, Block, or David Friedman. I had to make these discoveries on my own much, much later! What I value most about my education, I cannot attribute to the state, but to my friends, myself, and my own relentless curiosity that somehow survived the indoctrination.

Sadly, I cannot say the same of those I talk to and interact with in daily life. They have been starved of these liberating ideas. And every time I suggest, even in one tiny aspect, that some service can be performed better through voluntary cooperation than through government coercion, I meet with desperate fanaticism, of the kind that can only come from 18 years of indoctrination. For the imprisoned so love the caves that protect them from outside illumination.

By finding this page, I know that your journey into mental freedom has already begun. Continue taking learning into your own hands. Don't trust the government school to accurately teach you the history of government.

Flush the state's deep programming from your mind by following a path of freedom and self-determination. Live your life as much on your own terms as practical, setting an example to others: the power of freedom!