A Quote from “What Does Freedom Really Mean”
A friend of mine turned me on to the following quote via roundabout way:
Simply put, freedom is the absence of government coercion. Our Founding Fathers understood this, and created the least coercive government in the history of the world. The Constitution established a very limited, decentralized government to provide national defense and little else. States, not the federal government, were charged with protecting individuals against criminal force and fraud. For the first time, a government was created solely to protect the rights, liberties, and property of its citizens. Any government coercion beyond that necessary to secure those rights was forbidden, both through the Bill of Rights and the doctrine of strictly enumerated powers. This reflected the founders’ belief that democratic government could be as tyrannical as any King.
Few Americans understand that all government action is inherently coercive. If nothing else, government action requires taxes. If taxes were freely paid, they wouldn’t be called taxes, they’d be called donations. If we intend to use the word freedom in an honest way, we should have the simple integrity to give it real meaning: Freedom is living without government coercion. So when a politician talks about freedom for this group or that, ask yourself whether he is advocating more government action or less.
The political left equates freedom with liberation from material wants, always via a large and benevolent government that exists to create equality on earth. To modern liberals, men are free only when the laws of economics and scarcity are suspended, the landlord is rebuffed, the doctor presents no bill, and groceries are given away. But philosopher Ayn Rand (and many others before her) demolished this argument by explaining how such “freedom” for some is possible only when government takes freedoms away from others. In other words, government claims on the lives and property of those who are expected to provide housing, medical care, food, etc. for others are coercive—and thus incompatible with freedom. “Liberalism,” which once stood for civil, political, and economic liberties, has become a synonym for omnipotent coercive government.
His premise was the he is supporting Ron Paul.
I love the Liberty first, smaller government message. I just think Fred Thompson offers this same message, nuanced with State’s Rights. And Thompson is not going on shows and attracting 9-11 Truthers at his rallies.
Seriously, I am not voting for Ron Paul. But if you wade through the 9-11 truthers, gun nuts, college kids, and potheads that surround his ideas, there are some pretty good ideas in there.
Then again, I am kind of a Libertarian myself and was once registered in the LP when I was younger and more idealistic. In 2002 when I was in my mid-20’s.
Again, I support Fred.
