varrin

Now that some time has passed since returning home from our frenzied East Coast vacation, it's time to take a different look at all that we saw. 6 blog entries (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) covered the basics: what we did, when we did it, what and who we saw, photos, and so on. I did hint at things that were on my mind from time to time. For example, I mentioned several surprising cases of things being funded without any government money. But time constraints kept me from diving deep into the thoughts inspired by all we saw and did.... until now.

Some people who know me, and might even be familiar with my involvement in the Free State Project, think I'm interested in politics. That's not the case at all. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Politics has taken an interest in me, and I'm not particularly happy about it, hence my active involvement in seeking a more free society. I talk about it not because I want to be involved in politics, but because I'm not interested in politics being involved in me without my consent. And it is.

Really what I'm referring to is coercively imposed government. The philosophy I believe should be the lowest common denominator in governing all human interaction is that all human interaction should be entirely voluntary. When any person or group of people initiates involuntary interaction (force, fraud, etc.) with any other person or group of people, I consider that to be automatically immoral. Government, by the way, is not specifically exempt from that standard.

It should be noted that this is an incomplete ethic relating only to governing based on negative rights. It does not speak to guiding positive behavior based on some further ethical or moral code. In other words, while all involuntary interaction is necessarily immoral, not all voluntary interaction is necessarily moral or perfect.

That 'negative rights' view of voluntary cooperation has been refined over the years and is usually called the Zero Aggression Principle or Non-aggression Principle (I'll use ZAP for short). The words most people would know and roughly understand to mean something similar would be freedom and liberty.

While not so clearly articulated back then, the basic idea of ZAP was a significant part of the philosophy held by many of the founders of America and it showed up repeatedly in their writings. They didn't have it perfect (and maybe we don't either), nor did they use all the same words in the same ways we do today. They did, however, understand its fundamental difference from the many forms of tyranny they saw at the time, including the one they lived under and sought independence from.

As we traveled, we saw examples of writing about liberty scattered throughout various American historical sites. We also saw examples of non-aggression in action in the creation and operation various sites. Maybe most surprising to me, we saw many examples of the underlying theological and philosophical foundations of freedom, mostly in the form of theism (specifically, Christianity). I say that's surprising because many vocal promoters of ZAP today are outspoken atheists.

Our first glimpse into ZAP in action came with our tour of the Statue of Liberty. These days, calling something "Liberty" or "Freedom" doesn't mean it symbolizes or embodies those concepts. Liberty International Airport (EWR) is hardly liberty embodied. It is funded with coercively-collected taxes, and government-forced warrantless searches occur on everyone who enters. The Statue of Liberty, at least initially, was not so plagued with contradiction. It was built without using tax money on either side of the Atlantic (Ft. Wood was donated by the U.S. government, though not built for that purpose).

It's worth pointing out, also, a subtle shift in the meanings of words between then and now. This Statue of Liberty Enlightening The World was a gift from "the People of the Republic of France to the People of the United States." Today, that means the United States Federal Government owns the statue and pays for its upkeep with involuntarily collected taxes. In the 1880's, that meant that French and American people voluntarily donated time, talent and treasure to make this true gift a reality. In those days, "The People" didn't necessarily mean the government. Today, it seems that's the unstated assumption. According to that view, the U.S. Government has, frankly, stolen our statue. Maybe we should ask for it back?

Indeed, what you see today at the statue is a head-on collision of liberty and tyranny. Government bureaucrats set the rules, search everyone who goes to the island (twice, if you want to go inside the statue itself), and allow, deny, and reopen access at its pleasure. On the other hand, even over 100 years later, amidst government-controlled closures and controversy, voluntary private donations are raised for improvements and modern, inspiring quotes about liberty are displayed in its museum. Here we find Ghandi's ZAP-esque assertion that he "would do nothing to restrict [your liberty]." I can only assume he'd be happy with WalMart exercising its liberty with its recent $3 Million contribution towards the Statue's improvement (take that, WalMart haters!).

A less well-known voluntary gift was found in New York's Central Park. While there's no overt proclamation of liberty involved in this one, such acts of philanthropy are a more-big-government-lover's worst nightmare: good things can happen without forcing taxpayers to pay for them.

In Philadelphia, we found more ironic tax-funded displays of philosophy that, if taken to their namesake's logical conclusion, undermines the very idea of taxes. The Liberty Bell, and Independence Hall stand out, particularly the latter. I laughed when our guide at Independence Hall remarked that we've learned we don't like taxation with representation much better.

Despite their tax-funded status, the displays preserve plenty of pro-liberty content. I couldn't help but think of our present time when reading of "the never-ending quest for freedom and the need to remain forever vigilant, for liberties gained can also be lost."

Also in Philadelphia, but not tax-funded, we found an outstanding record of bold civil disobedience in the Betsy Ross house. Today, history considers her a heroic patriot. Had the war ended differently, history would cast her as a traitor. But the patriot / traitor rhetoric doesn't directly address the moral issue of flag making or regulating. Regulating flags, I'd say, is generally immoral. Win or lose, provocative or patriotic, I can only conclude that the initiator of aggression is the person who attacks the flag maker, flier, or burner. Betsy Ross is not a hero not because her nation won the war. She's not even a hero because her nation happened to really stand for liberty. Betsy Ross was a hero because she didn't let thugs who would initiate aggression against her solely for making her flag (a clearly non-violent action) deter her from doing so. That is the gold standard of civil disobedience.

Though the history of America is ripe with libertarian overtones, it is marred by failures to protect freedom along the way. On our trip, we bumped into slavery and government-forced discrimination on several occasions.

When America was founded, slaves were not considered to be whole people. Liberty and justice was not for all. Some of the founders knew that was wrong. One of the most impressive personal examples came from George Washington, the only one (I believe) of the founders to voluntarily free his own slaves, though only after his death. To its credit, the Mount Vernon estate exists today without modern-day slave (taxpayer) funding. I digress; more on Washington later.

The slavery debate raged on until it was finally put to rest by the civil war. The civil war had dramatic impact on freedom, both good and bad. While I don't intend to engage in that debate here (I likely have nothing new to say, nor the time to say it), I'll just observe a bit of both informed by visits to Antietam, Gettysburg, and the Lincoln Memorial, all within a few days of each other. The battlefields made the horrors of that war more real. They reminded us of the death and destruction war brings. Even on those very battlefields, though, they brought some good, such as the American Red Cross. Lincoln's own writing, though utterly disrespectful of the right to dissolve political ties, carried the bittersweet recognition of the high cost of ending slavery. Maybe it would have ended otherwise. Maybe the south would have failed and ultimately reunited. We don't know, but we do know that it was the deadliest war in U.S. history, and that it brought about the end of slavery.

In Washington, DC. we had an opportunity to spend some quality time at the Jefferson Memorial. Quite ironic that it was originally dedicated by Franklin D. Roosevelt, maybe the single most anti-liberty President we've ever had... until now, anyway. The monument doesn't just display a statue of Jefferson, it preserves the focus of much of his thought, and the thoughts of other founders of America. In the basement are many excellent quotes, preserved for our enlightenment. "The last hope of human liberty in this world rests on us." Inspiring, but hopefully untrue, as America has since failed to preserve it.

Jefferson was keen on education, and rightly so. He said, "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Unfortunately, though he may have been a great political philosopher, he violated his own maxim in developing his ideas on how to educate. He strongly supported government-funded (and operated) education, not recognizing that doing so involved destroying liberty along the way. In as much as he articulated and defended the principles of freedom, he did so admirably. His record on slavery and education were not so admirable.

Jefferson did understand something many libertarians today have forgotten or intentionally rejected. "God who gave us life gave us liberty." "Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens ... are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author..." "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Some day, I'll set out to write down my defense of Christianity as the sole suitable foundation for an enduring free society. Simply put, I agree with Jefferson on these points, which is precisely why I disagree with his conclusions on slavery and government schooling.

Our visit to DC also touched on a couple of other people I want to mention. First, while on the steps of the Lincoln monument, I reviewed a summary of the history of America as it related to slavery, and the aftermath of it. America was established as a free nation, but not for all people. The civil war, in as much as it resulted in ending slavery, took an important step forward. But those former slaves were still not equally free. There on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, a famous speech was given. When I finished telling about Martin Luther King, Jr.'s I Have A Dream speech, we got up, continued up the steps and immediately saw, engraved one step above where we sat, Dr. King's name and the date of the speech. I, too, have a dream...

Elsewhere in DC, we found another notable figure, not so inclined towards freedom. We visited the grave of John F. Kennedy. His philosophy lives on, carried from such 'greats' as Franklin D. Roosevelt, through himself, to Presidents Bush and Obama. "Ask not what your country can do for you ... but what together we can do for the freedom of man." Unfortunately, his comprehension of that pleasant sounding quote appears low when taken in the context of his speech at Rice telling Americans what a small price (billions of dollars) they would pay, involuntarily, to put the first man on the moon. We watched that speech later in the trip before visiting the space center bearing his name. It was inspiring, but tainted by the enduring precedent he set that day. Ironic that, sandwiched between our visits to his grave and Kennedy Space Center, was our visit to the Air and Space Museum where SpaceShipOne is housed. Over 40 years after Kennedy's speech, SpaceShipOne made history as the first privately funded space craft, using a tiny fraction of NASA's budget.

In a further digression from philosophy to aviation, I have to give a shout out to one of the many practical sides of freedom. We actually visited both Air and Space Museum locations. We saw legendary pieces of aviation history, including the original Wright Flyer and the previously-mentioned SpaceShipOne. Some of the most important innovations in aviation history came not from government but from the absence of it (in it's commonly-understood political form). The short history of aviation is one of rapidly expanding freedom, leading to our current ability. Despite government's best efforts to ruin aviation, we can still buy a ticket for a few dollars and fly all the way across the United States in just a few hours.

Before I forget, we did see the White House briefly in passing. I think you should pray for the people who live there. That guy is in over his head. I suspect if he read what I've written here he wouldn't understand most of it... or maybe it's worse than that.

For a moment, lets go back to the one president who didn't live in the White House. I'd like to revisit Washington's Mount Vernon Estate. As I previously mentioned, he stood out among the founders as one who freed his own slaves. He was also no slouch of a practical philosopher. Several of his quotes are preserved throughout the grounds. "The Constitution is the guide, which I never will abandon." "Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth." While these are catchy, there are two that I find worth further highlighting.

Washington's resignation speech as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army includes this gem, "I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last solemn act of my Official life, by commending the Interests of our dearest Country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendance of them, to his holy keeping." While this suggests Washington was a Christian, this next quote makes it all the more clear. Above his tomb, he quotes the Author, "I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." Like Jefferson, Washington well knew the foundation upon which liberty stands.

Today, have we abandoned all that we once held dear. Many Americans have abandoned God, the God who made us, who gave us life, and who made us free. Americans, even many Christians, have mostly abandoned the idea of liberty. Now, for millions of Americans, every time a problem arises, government is their savior.

I, for one, reject the notion that government is god. I reject the notion that the pathway to truth, and even to prosperity, comes through believing in government to save us from whatever bad thing comes our way. Moreover, I reject the notion that a nation can be free without a suitable foundation upon which to build freedom. Though I'll surely suffer the fiery attacks of my atheist-libertarian friends, I simply disagree that external appeal is unnecessary for a free society. Never has such a society existed nor will it, and for good reason, both theologically, and philosophically. That said, I respect my liberty-loving atheist brethren and wish more Christians shared their zeal for freedom.

America is at a crossroads today, as it has been so frequently throughout its history. In more recent decades, it has chosen the wrong path at nearly every opportunity. Those choices, stemming from the rejection of God and of liberty, have led us closer and closer to the brink of destruction. While I've long recognized the coming consequences of our actions, I have not, until recently, had a sense of when our self destruction would achieve critical mass. Barring any change in our present course, economic destruction of a magnitude never before seen in our history appears likely to begin within the next year or two (maybe less). Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe the last century's destruction will be hard to beat.

But every American has a choice. We have accrued so much future pain, there will be no truly painless solution. Fortunately, it's never to late for any one of us to begin making the right choices. I pray every American begins making the right choices today; that we would stop putting our trust in government and start putting it in God who made us and made us free; that we who believe in God would start demonstrating our love and respect for our fellow Americans by showing them love and not aggression-through-government; that we would teach our children to relentlessly pursue truth, root out evil, trust in God, and love our neighbor. We may be on the verge of walking through the shadow of death, and we have only ourselves to blame. Let us follow the good examples we have, both in history and with us today, improve on them as we're able, endure our pain with grace, and restore liberty throughout the land.

V-