Part-Time Freedom Advocates

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Thu, 18 Aug 2011 00:04:20 GMT  <== Politics ==> 

Larken Rose at Liberty for All - freedom is for everyone or it isn't freedom. The Founders of the United States were not the saints that many advertise.

Again, what makes things like the Sedition Act (and the crushing of Shay’s Rebellion, the Whiskey Rebellion, etc.) so infuriating is all the great pro-freedom rhetoric which John Adams and the other founders spouted when someone ELSE was in power. But once THEY were at the helm, suddenly resistance to “authority,” or even mere criticism of “authority,” became a horrible sin. Such is the hypocrisy of all statists: they show righteous indignation at those who use “government” to impose things they don’t like, while condemning as evil those who resist “government” when it imposes things they DO like. But if you accept the premise of “government,” that’s a temptation almost no one can resist. If you believe someone has the right to rule, even if only in a limited way, then it’s so tempting to want to have that “authority” use such power to make the world the way YOU wish it was–to punish the things you don’t like, and to reward the things you do like. That’s why statists are so often (if not always) hypocrites.

If you oppose “gun control” while supporting the “war on drugs”–or the other way around–you are a hypocrite. If you support corporate subsidies while condemning welfare for the poor–or the other way around–you are a hypocrite. If you think it’s okay to force people to fund a war they don’t like, while complaining that government is forcing you to fund some other program you don’t like–or the other way around–you are a hypocrite. In short, if you praise freedom out of one side of your mouth while advocating the initiation of “government” force against your neighbor FOR ANY REASON, you are a hypocrite. (Don’t overlook the word “initiation,” by the way.)

Add comment Edit post Add post

Comments (1):

Larken Rose

Submitted by Underground Carpenter on Sat, 20 Aug 2011 11:33:39 GMT

Hi Bill,

Larken Rose is always a good read. Thanks for the link.

Dave

Edit comment