Land of the Mostly Free, Home of the Occasionally Brave
Bill Whittle tells Wendy Buckley, proprietor of carbonfootprint.com, which I will not bless with a link, to Pound Sand, and asks Harrison Ford, a fellow pilot, who Dr. Buckley has extolled to stop touching God whenever he wants, to join in the chorus. I'll join it. Wendy Buckley, Pound Sand!!
I've changed my mind about that link, but I'm going to do it as a Google Bomb. So join with me, if you have a web site, and link to carbonfootprint.com as Pound Sand.
From Dr. Jones to Dr. Buckley: just say, "This is none of your business! It's a free country!"
Remember that little expression? "It's a free country!" Remember when that was a common response to these petty tyrannies? Remember when any time anybody tried to tell you what you could and could not do we didn't just whimper and apologize we used to turn to them and say, "Who died and made you king? This is a free country! I'll do what I damn well please!"
Does this matter? Yes it does. Because freedom of action and personal responsibility are welded together, two sides of the same coin. When we are free to do as we please we become the kind of independent, self-reliant people who will step up in emergencies. And when we surrender our will to other people who live to tell us what to do, we then become dependent on being told what to do all the time.
My brother Steve is a year younger than me. Right around age 13 Stevie used to take a tent, his dog and a shotgun and hitchhike from our home in South Florida out into the Everglades. He'd usually be gone or two or three days. Did my mom worry about him? Yes she did, but on some level I guess she preferred to raise an independent boy who was living his life to the fullest rather than perpetually trying to defend a life-long infant.
A few months ago I heard in passing that Steve had been on his way to work one morning when he passed a car that was on fire with the driver still inside. He pulled over, grabbed his crowbar, smashed the window and with the help of another passing citizen pulled her out and saved her life. He never thought to mention this to me. I found out about it second hand a few days afterward.
Libertarian Society Has No Commons
A libertarian society would have no commons. Land would be either owned or unowned, most of it owned. Pollution would then be trespass on your neighbors land, and he would have a valid argument that you had initiated force, violated ZAP, hence he is due restitution.
The ZAP and Tragedy of the Commons
I don't agree with Wendy Buckley's approach, one bit. But I would urge all libertarian or anarchist thinkers to think about their personal responsibility.
When we pollute in ways that are legal, we are not penalised. In a system without legal coercion, any pollution would be "legal". What would constrain people, apart from their own conscience?
What happens when we pollute is that the commons (our air, water, global thermostat) are damaged. That has repercussions for many - but often only later, and not for those who caused the pollution.
Such behaviour conflicts with the Zero-Aggression Principle. Whenever we burn fossil fuels, we are committing acts of aggression.
Am I flaming? I hope not. Do I have a solution to this moral dilemma? Not really.
All that I mean to say is: acting in ways that enhance our personal freedom, but constrain the personal freedom of others (even those yet unborn), is contrary to the principles of libertarianism and anarchism.
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