Ah, I'm Still Free!

by Willy Chaplin

I have always considered myself a "practicing" libertarian, rather than a theoretician. This may sound curious coming from someone who regularly puts out a column concerning libertarian topics, many of them very theoretical in nature. Yet, a conversation I had recently with my youngest son reaffirmed my belief that the proof of the libertarian pudding is in the eating...the actual practice of free thought, expression and deeds. My libertarian practice is to think freely, express myself freely and put it all on the World Wide Web (my libertarian deeds).

My son was lamenting the profusion of off-beat and, to him, repulsive ideological rants on the Internet. Like White Supremacists, Millennialists, Dweebs, Sluts, Wastoids, etc. Upon reflection, I told him that when I see those things, I don't think about how offensive or off-the-wall they are, but rather, "Ah, I am still free!" with the emphasis on the word "I." For, you see, as long as Nazi storm trooper types are free to spread their verbal poison over my land, I in turn am free to protest THEIR thoughts and actions, call THEM all kinds of names and put MY thoughts out there for everyone to see.

Freedom is not something granted to us by our government. Instead, it depends upon the day-to-day forbearance of each of us toward those who are different from us. In a democracy such as ours, it is ESSENTIAL that we allow the most offensive among us to freely speak their minds, less they turn about, organize the forces of darkness and stifle OUR thoughts in turn! It seems to me that history is rife with examples of where the people of a nation decided, for reasons compelling to they themselves, to suppress the words and deeds of those with whom the majority did not agree. For example, the Nazi holocaust, though usually portrayed as a vendetta against Jews, was actually an expression of the commonly held German belief that they were somehow "racially" superior not only to Jews, but to Slavs, dark skinned people, and anyone who was not identifiably "Arian." You may not agree that this is a good and sound reason for what they did, but it was a reason and the majority of Germans once accepted it. Gradually, after the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party, all those whose views did not correspond to this "main stream" opinion were suppressed. At first the suppression was formally legal. Only later did it degenerate into what the world almost universally saw as brutal thuggery.

So when I am walking downtown in the Mall, and I see a street musician playing bad music with a tin cup beside him or a homeless woman dressed in rags expounding about her condition to anyone who will listen or an Ayn Randian standing on a soapbox extolling "creative selfishness," I don't see a situation that I wish the authorities would hide from me, by banishing such "undesirables" to poorer sections of the city, but rather say to myself, "So, it is true! I AM still free!"

When a person or persons knocks on my door, interrupting my work or my leisure, only to hand me religious tracts I regard as nonsense or try to solicit money for causes I do not support, I don't wish they would stay away. I think, "This means that I too am still free!"

A final example from my experience as a libertarian columnist. I frequently receive email criticizing me on the grounds that I stray from libertarian "principle." Often the writer is angry and outraged at my deviation from what he believes is bedrock libertarian thought. However, these exchanges remind me, above all else, that I, personally, live in a free country; that there are few other places in the world where such acrimonious discourse can take place without fear of bullets following closely behind; that as flawed as the US is, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, it's surely the worst place to live...unless you compare it to anywhere else. Here, I don't even have to agree with my FRIENDS!

One of the main reasons that I am so opposed to the Nanny State has to do with the freedom to fail, to make error, to be an "undesirable." For without the freedom to fail, what is success? Now, I don't for a minute believe that "experts" can decide what is best for me or you, to decide for us what are acceptable risks and what are not. But, even if I thought it WERE possible, I still would oppose their doing so. What kind of world would it be if we were all protected, from birth to still inevitable death, from all risk? Would this be a desirable world? If all food tasted good, what would "good" mean? If all people are healthy, what does healthy mean?

A leftist might say to me, "That is easy for YOU to say. Compared to most Africans, for example, you ALWAYS eat well and are ALWAYS healthy." You are just trying to conserve your advantage by advocating that the government stay out of such matters. But, that is not true, is it? Eating well, as we are constantly reminded by the media, bears with it the risk of overweight and obesity, leading to ill health, or, at least to health that COULD be better. Does this mean I think that African's should starve or be condemned to inferior health services in perpetuity? Of course not! Better nutrition and health are goals worth striving for by anyone and those of us who have been luckier than most Africans should damned well assist them IF WE CAN. But, beware of those damnable "unanticipated side effects," whether you are contemplating reversing global warming or helping the starving masses of Somalia (who, you will recall, rewarded us by savagely slaughtering some of our soldiers and dragging their mutilated bodies through the streets). So, while these efforts remain worthwhile goals, the devil is still in the details.

Elevated to the status of "principle" the previous words imply the libertarian credo of not messing with Mother Nature unless you REALLY KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. Because, in doing so, you are almost guaranteed to step on somebody's freedom while trying to preserve or create somebody else's. In practice, it merely means "be tolerant." The freedom you preserve may be your own.

The web of freedom is a complex skein. Beginning in the right to utter offensive words, it weaves its way through freedom to worship, freedom of movement all the way to the freedom to take chances and make mistakes. The government...ALL governments...are well advised to tread VERY LIGHTLY in this arena. Then, I will indeed remain free...and so will you.

Talk to you later...

Willy Chaplin is a man who calls himself a libertarian and thinks he has something to say to us all. This rant was previously published on How Can You Laugh at a Time Like This?