We live in a democracy where tyranny is supposedly not a problem because we govern ourselves.

We all know the stories about the tyrants of old before we had self-government. We've been told all of the bad actions that tyrants have done over the centuries. These range from petty acts of malice to slavery and genocide. We rejoice that the bad old days are gone and that we are safe now that the government is our friend and only does good things to us and for us.

I'd like to ask you these important questions:

Are there any acts that our governments take that you consider tyrannical?

Are you considering some of the acts of our governments to be sufferable that you wouldn't suffer from a tyrant?  What are they?

Does the slogan "Government is for slaves, free men govern themselves" mean anything in today's world of self-government?

John Roscoe

“The Tragedy of Organized Humanity: De Jouvenel On Power”*

          Bertrand de Jouvenel (1903 – 1987) was a French philosopher. I have read and marveled at several of his books. One of his themes is that in the name of democracy, or in the name of the people, we will do things to ourselves that we would let no tyrant do. I think we see these actions and the results of these actions everyday in this country. We need to be alarmed. Note the following:

          “Though few people seem yet to be aware of it, we are beginning to pay the price for one of the most fateful delusions which have ever guided political evolution. About a hundred years ago political wisdom had learnt to comprehend, as a result of centuries of bitter experience, the essential importance of manifold checks and barriers to the expansion of power. But after power seems to have fallen into the hands of the great mass of the people, it was suddenly thought that no more restrictions on power were necessary. The delusion arose, described by Lord Acton in a phrase less hackneyed but not less profound than that which is now constantly quoted, ‘that absolute power may, by the hypothesis of its popular origin, be as legitimate as constitutional freedom.’** But power has an inherent tendency to expand and where there are no effective limitations it will grow without bounds, whether it is exercised in the name of the people or in the name of a few. Indeed, there is reason to fear that unlimited power in the hands of the people will grow farther and be even more pernicious in its effects than power exercised by few.

         This is the tragic theme on which M. de Jouvenel has written a great book.”

*[Review of Bertrand de Jouvenel, Power: The Natural History of its growth (London and New York: Hutchinson, 1948), published as “The Tragedy of ORganised Humanity” in Time and Tide, November 6, 1948, p. 119. -Ed.]

**[The other phrase alluded to is the famous “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” On Acton see this volume, chapters 8 and 9. -Ed.]

“For Good and Evil”

 I would like to recommend a book that I found very interesting. The book is For Good and Evil: The Impact of Taxes on the Course of Civilization by Charles Adams.

Here are a couple of reviews that are on the book jacket:

“For Good and Evil is sad testimony to how the governments of the world cannot be made to understand that there is something between taking and being given. They cannot get wealth by just grabbing it. They cannot make wealth by just handing it out. Buy governments – as witnessed by their tax policies through history – will not learn this. Well, we must keep hammering away at their thick heads, and For Good and Evil is a 9-pound sledge.”
- P. J. O’Rourke

“I can honestly say that in the course of fifteen years of professional research and writing about taxation, I would place Charles W. Adams’ history at the absolute top of any reading list on the subject.”
- From the Foreword by Professor Alvin Rabushka, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University

As the flyleaf says, “once you’ve read For Good and Evil, you’ll never feel the same about taxes.”

I own a quantity of these books. The cover price in 1993 was $29.95. I will send you a copy or copies of this book for $12.50 each (includes shipping). You can order this book by calling me at (707)-449-5979 or emailing me at johnroscoe1000@yahoo.com.

Choose Today!

“It is unfortunately none too well understood that, just as the State has no money of its own, so it has no power of its own. All the power it has is what society gives it, plus what it confiscates from time to time on one pretext or another; there is no other source from which State power can be drawn. Therefore, every assumption of State power, whether by gift or seizure, leaves society with so much less power; there is never, nor can be, any strengthening of State power without a corresponding and roughly equivalent depletion of social power.” Albert Jay Nock* wrote these words in his classic critique Our Enemy, The State.

Imagine two water glasses. One is labeled “Individual” and the other is labeled “State.” All of the water is in the Individual glass. As the water is poured from the Individual glass to the State glass, there is less water in the Individual glass. The water represents your power to control yourself and your activities.

Our society continues to turn our lives and our fortunes over to the State. As we let the Statists take more of our money and more of our power, we have less and less individual freedom.

We are the poorer for it. We are poorer in resources. We are poorer in spirit. Our possibilities are poorer.
You can transfer some of the power from the State to the Individual. As Voltaire wrote, “man is free the moment he chooses to be.” Choose today.

*Albert Jay Nock (1870 – 1945) is widely regarded as one of the finest writers and critics in American Letters. His books are available from “The Nockian Society,” 42 Leathers Road, Fort Mitchell, Kentucky 41017.

Principles of Liberty

I thought it might be helpful if I listed some of Bob LeFevre principles of liberty. If we could all live by these simple principles, life would be a lot easier, safer, and more enjoyable. If you adopt these principles and live by them, you do not need to know much more about libertarianism.

          1. Man owns himself. He may do whatever he wants with his body so long as he does not damage others.

          2. Man’s most valuable property is himself. Man is never broke so long as he is alive.

          3. Man has the right to freedom. He has the right to use himself and the property he acquires to sustain himself as he chooses.

          4. Man does not have the right to violate the same rights of others.

          5. Any form of forced denial of these rights is wrong.

          6. Use of force to achieve ends is wrong, either for an individual or for groups of people.

          7. Government has no money of its own. It only has what it takes from you and me.

          8. Everyone likes the childish idea that government is here to help and protect us. They think the problems they have with government are just aberrations. They are only unhappy when they have contact with government agents. They fail to recognize that government is for slaves and free men govern themselves.

          9. Taxation is theft unless voluntarily given.

          10. Ownership implies the right and responsibility for protection. No one who owns valuables relies on the police for protection. Police provide retribution in a limited geographic area at monopolistic prices.

          11. Man works in his own best interests as he perceives it. Man has the right to destroy himself and his property.

          12. Man produces with incentive. Hope of gain is a stronger incentive than fear of punishment.

          13. It is important to remember that your rights stop at the end of the other person’s nose and vice versa.

          14. Life on this planet requires superior effort.

Free Up Some Time By Just Managing Yourself

In 1981, I was asked to write a Happy Birthday message for Bob Lefevre’s 70th Birthday. Bob’s basic message was that each individual has a full time job managing themselves. As such, individuals need to worry more about their actions than the actions of others.

You can learn more about Bob and his philosophy by visiting his Wikipedia page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_LeFevre.  The things Bob said are more accurate than the things that others have said about him and his philosophy.

Below is the letter I sent to Bob:

September 11, 1981

Mr. Robert LeFevre, Jr.
18036 Cross Road
Prunedale, CA 93901

Dear Mr. LeFevre:

I want to wish Bob LeFevre “Happy Birthday.”

I bought a pig in a poke when I got Bob. With just the scantiest of information, I scheduled him for a week long seminar for thirty of our key employees in 1975. We, or course, were surprised, delighted, entertained, enriched, and rewarded.

While Bob doesn’t bill himself as a business or time management consultant, he really performed that function for me. He helped simplify my life and my business. His philosophy and his wisdom brought a lot of things together for me. It became apparent to me, which I had no control. He pointed out that I had a full time job just managing myself. It was wonderful to find out that if I only managed myself, a lot of other things would fall into place.

Not that the dragon of interference into the affairs of others is easy to slay. On occasion I still find myself starting to cross other people’s boundaries. I then sit back and try to remember Bob’s premises and logic from his seminars and can generally let the folly of others pass me by.

Bob’s message has been good for me and for my business. He has given me a better framework in which to work and live. He’s saved me a lot of time and needless effort. HAPPY BIRTHDAY  BOB!

Very truly yours,

 

John F. Roscoe

Are You Willing to Pay the Price of Freedom

As with most good things, freedom has a price.

Unfortunately, it is a price higher than most anyone is willing to pay. That price is minding your own business.

This seems like a simple thing. Most of us believe in the concept of minding our own business, but putting it into practice is tough. When your neighbor does something you disagree with, you want to tell them what to do. If they still disagree, you want to force them to do things your way.

It could be as simple as not cutting their grass or having an old car in the driveway. When persuasion does not work, most of us then want to resort to the law. We try to use the force of law to get what we cannot obtain voluntarily. We want to force folks to live by our standards and our view of right and wrong. We want to define correct behavior for them.

Just as you cannot get everything done voluntarily, you cannot get everything done through the force of law. Americans use the force of law more than the citizens of any other country do. We have five times as many people in prison as Britain, nine times as many as Germany, and twelve times as many as Japan. One out of thirty two Americans are either in prison or under the supervision of the courts. While some of the offenders might be a danger to society, most have been imprisoned because they made choices that other people disagree with.

Most of us are unhappy with the actions of our Federal Government. We think they squander the money they extort from us. Many others are displeased with their State Governments. However, folks are generally happy with their local governments so long as they do not have to deal with them. They like to march to their City Council meeting after something they disagree with happens in their town. People want to use coercion to obtain what they cannot obtain through persuasion. We need to banish the phrase “there ought to be a law” from our thoughts. We need to realize most bad laws and most bad politicians start at the local level.

We should do what we can do; set a good example. We should do what we can to persuade individuals to do the right thing. We should recognize that not everything is going to come out the way we want it to come out. We should not try to limit our freedom by passing additional laws to force people to do things the way we wan t them done.

Are you willing to pay the price of freedom?

The Path to Progress is Through Innovations

          In a free market, merchants try to think of ways to best their competition. They try to improve their products, prices, and processes to make their customers happy and to attract new customers. When their  improvement works, they do more business and are rewarded for their good deeds.
          Innovation is putting two unrelated items together to create something new. That is how progress is made. Innovators are inspired by need or greed to think and do the impossible or the unthinkable. The results of their inspirations are often improvements in the well being of their customers.
          The dragon of interference into the lives of others is a compelling force and is hard to slay. Voluntary improvement isn’t good enough for a Statist. The Statist wants to impose on all merchants the things that the good merchant does voluntarily. Supporters of the dragon generally want to institutionalize the innovative merchants good idea by imposing these idea on everyone. Rather than let the market take its course, they want to try to force the good behavior of some on the everyone. .
          They don’t realize that this is not necessary and not at all wise. Good works have their own reward. J C Penney proved this principle when he opened his Golden Rule store in Kemmerer, Wyoming way back in 1912. His innovations helped change and improve American retailing.
          They also don’t realize that it is counterproductive. In a land where there is no reward for superior performance, no one improves performance. I was reminded of this years ago when I visited Russia when it was ruled by a Marxist government. I asked to eat in the best restaurant in Moscow. To my amazement, there wasn’t a best restaurant. There was no benefit or reward to anyone to do a better job than someone else.
          Only a free market inspires innovation and progress. In a land without incentives to do well, no one does well. When you are inspired to think you want to force someone to do something or you say, “ there ought to be a law”, it is time for you to figure how to slay your personal dragon of interference into the lives of others.

Freedom!

      Robert Lefevre was a great libertarian philosopher and teacher.   Bob’s basic philosophy was “do what you will, but harm no man”.   Bob taught a course he called Freedom School. Bob taught what freedom is. It is the basic human right.   

     At that first meeting, forty-seven years ago, Bob said that his goal when he started his program was to get just one person to agree with him.   He knew that to change the world you needed to change individuals.   He said he’d be happy to change just one.   

      We have less personal freedom than when I met Bob.  About fifteen years ago, I wrote this:

       Everyday we lose a bit of freedom in this country.  We lose freedom every time a planning commission meets. We lose freedom every time a city council or a legislative body convenes.  We lose freedom every time a bureaucrat goes to work.  We lose freedom every time a businessman wants an advantage from government.  We lose freedom every time people exercise power over property they don’t own.  We lose freedom whenever someone asserts control over another person’s actions.

      We have already lost most of our property rights.  We fool ourselves to think we have civil liberty.  Even so, the Statists chip away daily at the bit of freedom that remains.

        We have less freedom than when I wrote that.  We have less freedom than we had yesterday.  This blog will be about Freedom.  It may not be as clear and concise as Bob’s teachings, but it will be my honest attempt to convey the message of personal freedom in a practical way.    Bob prided himself on being logical and logically consistent.  While I won’t be able to match his purity of thought, I’ll give you my thoughts about how the world ought to work from a libertarian perspective.   I’ll cover items that I find of interest and give my interpretations that I hope are tinged with some of Bob’s principles.    

      I’ll close this opening blog with a message from Lao Tzu:

A leader is best

When people barely knows that he exists

Not so good when people obey and acclaim him.

Worst when they despise him.

“Fail to honor people,

They fail to honor you”

But of a good leader, who talks little,

When his work is done, his aim fulfilled

They will all say,” We did this ourselves”.

 

John Roscoe