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“The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.” — John Stewart Mill, On Liberty Of Puppies and Guns Variable Expressions in the American Quest for Liberty
Reporting from Rancho Santana, Nicaragua...Eric Fry
“Happiness is a warm gun,” John Lennon famously sang on the Beatles’ 1968 White Album.
Uh, right...unless of course you happen to be on the muzzle end of that warm gun, as Lennon found himself in 1980.
Said Lennon about the origin of the song-title: “I think [George Martin] showed me a cover of a magazine that said ‘Happiness Is a Warm Gun.’ It was a gun magazine. I just thought it was a fantastic, insane thing to say. A warm gun means you just shot something.”
To be charitable and considerate, we’ll label Lennon’s remark, “shortsighted.” Charles Schultz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip, may have been a bit closer to the mark when he titled his initial book, Happiness is a Warm Puppy.
Both observations, in their own ways, speak to the quest for liberty and/or the expression of personal freedom. To some folks, a loaded Colt .45 is liberty...and “shooting something” is an expression of personal freedom. To others, a warm puppy is a more satisfying companion and a more trustworthy expression of freedom.
Nevertheless, back home in the States, a growing number of folks are taking up arms to defend against both actual and perceived threats to their liberty. Handgun applications keep setting new records, as do ammunition sales.
But liberty that arms itself like Rambo seems like a strange and precarious one...not to mention a potentially fatal one, as we discussed in the August 13th edition of The Daily Reckoning.
Fortunately, soaring gun sales are merely one expression of the American quest for liberty. There are many others that do not tear apart flesh or attract SWAT raids...which brings us right back to that warm puppy.
During your California editor’s visit here in Nicaragua, he has encountered more than a few liberty-seeking Americans. They moved down here, either permanently or semi-permanently, because they consider it an uptick from the life they led “back home.”
Most of the ex-pats your editor encountered were 20- or 30- somethings who love to surf. Many of them were working hourly jobs; others were pursuing some sort of entrepreneurial venture. All of them were enjoying greater liberty than they enjoyed back home...at least that’s what they said.
Their version of liberty is not for everyone, but it is very clearly for somebody, like your editor’s own daughter. She recently relocated to Rancho Santana, here in Nicaragua, with this particular warm puppy, Gypsy...
Her relocation to Nicaragua is experimental, of course, but the American quest for liberties that the modern American only grudgingly provides is not experimental at all. It is an established trend.
To be sure, the Land of the Free still provides plenty of freedom. But many folks sense that some of those freedoms are vanishing...or at least eroding, which is the reason the L-word seems to be on the lips of so many Americans these days.
The legendary American liberty that used to be a “given” is becoming a “taken.”...and that trend is a call to action, even if that action be merely resignation to “whatever will be, will be.”
David Galland, today’s guest editor, examines the meaning of liberty itself, while also providing specific tactics for pursuing it and/or safeguarding it.
David’s definitions and tactics, as fascinating as they are, will not be yours. Therefore, Dear Reader, please share your own thoughts with us. Articulate your personal definitions of liberty and personal freedom. Tell us what you intend to do — or not do — to express and safeguard your liberties.
As always, for these Group Research Projects, please send your responses to Joel Bowman at the following email address:
joel@dailyreckoning.com
And just to get the discussion started, please take a look at the first of a two-part essay by David Galland, “What Does Liberty Really Mean to You?” External Advertisement
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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.David Galland,Casey Research
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 Cafayatein 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?
Tune in tomorrow...
Regards,
David Galland
for The Daily Reckoning
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Here at The Daily Reckoning, we value your questions and comments. If you would like to send us a few thoughts of your own, please address them to your managing editor at joel@dailyreckoning.com
Wednesday, 22 August 2012
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