Principles By Which We Live

{ Posted on Aug 26 2009 by Pete Eyre }
Categories : Personal Ramblings, The Crew

ST. PAUL, MN/THE HOLLER, TN – The tagline for Motorhome Diaries is searching for freedom in America, which begs the often-asked question – “What exactly is freedom?” Though that question could lead to a long-winded response, it can easily be summarized as having choice. The ability to opt in or out.

Seems pretty simple, right? It should be. But unfortunately there exists today gangs that restrict choice or deny it entirely. Through the use of force or its threat, these gangs (aka governments) usurp our freedoms, stifle the civil society and create massive market distortions.

So let’s get at what this post is all about: the principles by which we (myself, Adam and Jason) live. Though we all self-describe as voluntaryists, since we’re individuals, we each arrived at this position through different routes. And we wanted to share with you a few of the resources we each utilized in our journey, which we hope will be of use to those of you that have an affinity for these ideas – individual liberty and responsibility, peace and voluntary interactions.

Pete cites:

Adam cites these internet sources:

I would also cite a few of the books Pete did above. But suggest these for beginners (like myself) to start your logical conclusions:

But most important, to me, is simply being involved. To me freedom has always been commonsensical. I don’t want to control people, or tell them how to live their lives. Whatever they want to do, so long as they don’t initiate force on others, is fine by me.

Jason cites:

  • Ronald Reagan: As a kid I benefitted from Ronald Reagan’s ability to communicate the ideas of freedom. Once I discovered the hypocrisy of his version of freedom (escalating the drug war and massive government spending programs, for example) I started my own search for real freedom which led me to the zero aggression principle.
  • The Zero Aggression Principle: The Libertarian Party gets credit for this since I had to agree to it in order to join (and later quickly leaving). It’s rather simple – you don’t hurt people and you don’t take their stuff. All of us learned this in kindergarden, all of us except for those in government and people that keep them there (like voters).
  • Lysander Spooner: Shattered the notion that a government is something that needs to be submitted to. Like he explains, a government (constitutional or otherwise) has no authority because it hasn’t been agreed upon by those it rules over.
  • Henry David Thoreau: Led by example to show that it is not just your right but your responsibility to disobey immoral laws.

    And, relying on the ideas proffered in the resources above, Adam and Jason recently shared videos in which they describe how they became a voluntaryist (I’ll shoot/post mine soon!).

    • This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 at 9:03 pm and is filed under Personal Ramblings, The Crew. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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