Building Liberty

The Free and the Unashamed have posted another essay, Building Liberty, at their new web site http://fau.anarplex.net/?p=18. Check it out! This is excellent!
Thanks to Bill St.Clair for the "heads up."
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= THE ARISTOCRACY OF ACTION =

There are two kinds of liberty at work in the world today: The liberty of words. The liberty of works.

There is nothing bad about the liberty of words, but it is only a ghost in the world. Liberty is to be experienced, not just talked about. Without action, it stagnates and fades; put into action, it thrives mightily.

The experience of liberty changes people. It engages the whole being and the entire life. It affects us in ways that mere words cannot. For liberty to be a real force in the world, it needs bodies, not just minds. (For beings with physical bodies to expect otherwise would be silly.)

When liberty is put to use in the physical world, it is addictive. We do not need to plan everything in advance. Real life if far too complex for that, and if you wait until you answer every objection, you’ll never do anything. Liberty needs to be applied before it can be completed. This requires adaptation and error, just like anything else that is built. Certainly the principals of liberty can be known in advance, but the details of its application will never be solid until they are repetitively tested against the real world.

EFFORT IS REQUIRED

It’s easier to live as a slave than to fight and gain your freedom. Building the things we need is harder than using the current systems. This extra effort is what turns you from a slave into a free man or woman.

Liberty costs more than slavery, at least at first. The costs of slavery are high, but you are already paying them, and you may not be able to avoid them before you exert yourselves building the new structures of Liberty. Furthermore, new systems are not built efficiently. The first attempt may need to be altered, possibly even removed and rebuilt. New systems require evolution; they are not designed perfectly from the beginning; they take shape over time.

The foundation of human improvement is voluntary, cooperative action. If you cannot work together – charitably and with kindness – you are doomed to conflict and failure. Liberty is more important than silly slights and imperfect manners; if you lose track of the goal and bicker, you will bring down everything that you began to build.

WHAT WE NEED

#1: Physical Presence In order to develop, liberty requires physical spaces, where humans interact fully and address the whole spectrum of human characteristics. This allows for goodness to be seen and learned, conflicts to arise and to be addressed, natural order to emerge, and reputations to be made, lost and regained. We must feed broadly from one another. We are physical beings, not disembodied spirits.

We need places where we are clearly separate from the state. Our places of physical presence, however, do not have to be fixed in time and space; they may be temporary or mobile. This can be effectively coordinated with sufficient communication.

#2: Exchange We require methods of exchanging value and protecting property. This means money that does not enslave or expose us. We also require secure storage.

#3: Separation Liberty does not require approval. Since liberty is restricted by states in thousands of ways, separation is required. If the state is forced into the situation, liberty is joined to an eternal enemy. Any pursuit of liberty which includes the state is doomed to failure. All people and groups who have made such efforts eventually realize that they will never reach their goal. They become demoralized and often make regrettable choices. Fortunately, keeping the state out of our realm is easier than it may initially appear.

#4: Communication Both relationships and strategy require communication. Many good means of communication exist and we should use them all.

#5: Transport Trade requires transportation. Goods must be delivered and not intercepted by the state. This is an issue for larger physical items. Get the Details and MORE HERE