Liberty!

            So, last week I had to give a speech for my Communications class. As painful as that was, it was made less so by our being allowed to choose our own topic. I spoke on Classical Liberalism, which is the political/economic philosophy (as opposed to an ideology) with the sole intention of instilling liberty. Of course, it was originally just known as Liberalism, but that term was stealthily hijacked by the advocates of socialism. At least Conservatives were a little more original in choosing their label, though they also fall short of promoting liberty, with their state enforced moralities.

            During my speech, I quoted Frederic Bastiat and Ludwig von Mises. Both were brilliant economists; Bastiat in the early 1800s and Mises, the early 1900s. It is amazing how their insights remain true, still today.

            Consider how Mises described the perils special interest groups inflict on society, in his book titled “Liberalism”. He said

“The parties of special interests, which see nothing more in politics than the securing of privileges and prerogatives for their own groups, not only make the parliamentary system impossible; they rupture the unity of the state and of society. They lead not merely to the crisis of parliamentarism, but to a general political and social crisis. Society cannot, in the long run, exist if it is divided into sharply defined groups, each intent on wresting special privileges for its own members, continually on the alert to see that it does not suffer any setback, and prepared, at any moment, to sacrifice the most important political institutions for the sake of winning some petty advantage.”

            Now, go back and read that underlined section, again. That was originally published in 1927! And what do we see happening today? An ever expanding list of special interest groups, with our “leaders” (spit) choosing sides, entirely for the purpose of “wresting special privileges” for themselves and seeking to ensure they themselves do not “suffer any setback”. That is not liberty. That is benefitting one group or class of People, at the expense of another, and that is simply theft. Liberty is for everyone and dividing the People and/or encouraging the People to separate themselves is completely antithetical to liberty. In fact, it is an absolute assault on liberty.

           Bastiat has become one of my favorite writers and provides an excellent summary of classical liberalism

“Away with their social laboratories, their governmental whims, their centralization, their tariffs, their universities, their state religions, their inflationary or monopolizing banks, their limitations, their restrictions, their moralizations and their equalization by taxation! And now, after having vainly     inflicted upon the social body so many systems, let them end where they ought to have begun – reject all systems and try liberty – liberty, which is an act of faith in God and his work.”

LIBERTY!